The Rock speaks on his experience with COVID-19, XFL plans, and his legacy

With a new television show on the horizon in Young Rock, The Rock spoke candidly with Cigar Aficionado on his experience with COVID-19 and a multitude of other topics.

“In a 24-hour period, it had spread so quickly to our nanny, our nanny’s teenage kids, and her husband,” Rock said of COVID-19 spreading through his world. “Myself and my two-year-old daughter, we were the last ones standing until the very end, but of course we both tested positive. We were on the fortunate end for something that has been so traumatic to the world. We got through it.”

In the interview, The Rock also discussed his purchase of the XFL and the vision he has for the company moving forward.”My dreams of playing in the NFL never happened,” he said. “Look, Warren Sapp beat me out for my position, I had a lot of injuries, and none of those mattered. At the end of the day I wasn’t good enough. What the XFL will provide is an opportunity [for future players] to play. If the XFL was around for me in 1995 and I didn’t get drafted into the NFL, you can believe I would have got on the XFL field.”

The Rock also talked about what his future plans were.”What’s important to me now, and what will be important to me five years from now, eight years from now, 10 years from now, is legacy,” he said. “January 15 [2020], my dad died suddenly. Gone. I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to him. That’s a tough one to reconcile. We all lose our loved ones, but when we don’t get a chance to say goodbye, that’s tough. So this idea of legacy and what that means, not only leaving a legacy, but sustaining it, and how much more can we push the legacy along, how much more can you expand it, where you can take it. Legacy.”

Young Rock premieres on NBC on Tuesday February 16 at 8pm EST.

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