Dwayne Johnson Almighty Baller

How Do You Become Hollywood's Biggest Star? Use Your Faded Nfl Dream to Motivate a Series of Reinventions That Leave Just One Question Unanswered: Is There Anything Dj Can't Do?

- Alan Shipnuck

TØ UNDERSTAND HOW DWAYNE JOHNSON has become the biggest star in Hollywood,it is necessary to first visit the teachers’ lounge at Freedom High in Bethlehem, Pa. Actually, start in the malodorous boys’ bathroom. Johnson had landed in Bethlehem after years of turmoil. His family lived on the margins, dogged by eviction notices; Freedom was his fourth high school in three years, in three states. At every stop he became a regular in the principal’s office. Johnson was big and mean, and since his father and grandfather were professional wrestlers, other kids were eager to test him. Johnson obliged with his fists. Throw in some scrapes with the law as a youngster in Hawaii, and Johnson had a well-developed problem with authority. So in his second week at Freedom, when he didn’t like the smell of the boys’ bathroom, he nonchalantly strolled through the teachers’ lounge to the attached restroom. He was at a urinal when a short, barrel chested, mustachioed gent stormed in and informed him he was in the wrong place. Johnson paid no mind and took his sweet time washing his hands, at which point the teacher pounded on the wall and bellowed, “You need to get the f--- out of here!”