The Rock and Jelly Roll’s Emotional 10-Year Reunion

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Jelly Roll shared a joint Instagram post on Monday, revealing their nearly decade-long friendship.

The professional wrestler-turned-actor, 53, and music artist, 40, connected years ago through the latter’s sentimental song Only.

After years of keeping in touch virtually, they finally met in person and shared a warm hug that was recorded and posted online.

Johnson wrote a lengthy, heartfelt caption in which he spoke about their bond and their mutual ties to Nashville.

‘A brotherly hug almost 10 years in the making,’ he began the note, adding handshake and heart emojis.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Jelly Roll shared a joint Instagram post on Monday, revealing their nearly decade-long friendship; The Rock pictured in January

The professional wrestler-turned-actor, 53, and music artist, 40, connected years ago through the latter’s sentimental song Only; Jelly Roll, born Jason DeFord, pictured in May

He shared the story of how their friendship came to be, adding, ‘Several years ago (roughly 2017) I was going through a very hard thing at the time, I was struggling. My mental wellness turned into my mental hellness. Many of you know the drill, you put on “the face”, show up to work, smile and get through it.’

The Hollywood fixture continued, ‘Then a song came on through my headphones one morning on a random shuffle playlist. “Only” from Jelly Roll. The lyrics rocked me. Hard core.’

Engaging his audience of 393 million, he went on to explain how deeply he was touched by the transformative lyrics, which include: ‘What if the darkness inside of me has finally taken my soul?/What if the angels in heaven were sent to take me home?/Would they fight through the demons that I have in my life?/Lord, I’m believing, eventually see the light.’

He said, ‘The words moved me so much that I reached out to Jelly. I said you don’t know me and I don’t know you, but this song of yours is helping me through some stuff I’m dealing with. I just called to say thank you brother. Our bond was born.’

Johnson had a special token on-hand for the highly-anticipated moment they met face-to-face.  

He presented Jelly, born Jason DeFord, with a postcard of the Alamo Plaza motel in South Nashville, which has significant meaning to him. 

‘This is real old-school Nashville history,’ Jelly said appreciatively, showing the postcard, which the actor signed.

The Smashing Machine star explained in the caption, ‘It’s an old, and cheap postcard of a little motel called the Alamo Plaza in south Nashville. 

‘When I was 15yrs I was forced (family was evicted) to leave Hawaii and make it to Nashville to live with my dad. That didn’t work out so I wound up living with a stranger in this little spot on Murfreesboro Road that has since been torn down and no longer there.’

After years of keeping in touch virtually, they finally met in person and shared a warm hug that was recorded and posted online

Johnson wrote a lengthy, heartfelt caption in which he spoke about their ‘brotherly’ bond ; pictured in 2024

The Rock presented Jelly with a postcard of the Alamo Plaza motel in South Nashville, which has significant meaning to them as they share Nashville roots; the music artist pictured in April

The Rock said elsewhere in his caption: ‘Every once in a while we all get sliced up by life, but it’s amazing to see what kind of blessings and people that God and the universe will put in our lives to help us heal through our pain.’

Upon meeting each other, DeFord said in the video clip, ‘I’ve been waiting a decade for this hug, baby.’

The two megastars beamed, smiling from ear-to-ear as they embraced in the social media clip.

They exchanged ‘I love yous’ as the singer-songwriter exclaimed, ‘God, it’s so good to see you, Bubba.’ 

In a voiceover the Moana star said, ‘Jelly and Roll and I have been friends for almost 10 years — texting, showing love, support, always there for each other. “Whatever you need, I got you.” We’ve never met.’

He added, ‘So yesterday at American Idol was the first time we ever met and it was very special.’