Brooke Hogan has already made it clear she and her brother Nick aren’t exactly one big happy family right now, but she’s now revealing just how nasty things have gotten between them. According to Brooke, the brother she once considered basically her twin has become the person whose betrayal hurts her more than anyone else’s.
During an appearance on the Leave Then Cleave podcast, Brooke opened up about how badly her relationship with Nick has fallen apart following Hulk Hogan’s death. She said the whole thing has been especially painful because she genuinely believed there was nothing that could ever come between them. Brooke also stressed that this isn’t about wanting Hulk’s money. What bothers her is that Nick apparently hasn’t even checked whether she’s okay or offered her something personal belonging to their dad, like one of his shirts or a signed belt.
“And what’s really sad though is that my brother in a sense was like my twin. And I thought no matter what, me and my brother are going to—that ends it right there. Like me and my brother never could ever have anything come between us and I am so disappointed in this whole situation after my dad’s death. It’s not about money. It’s not about anything like that. It’s about watching him like run away with it, right? And not talk to me and think that I’m give me giveimme gimme split the money with me. What? Like, you know what would have been nice is just like, ‘Brooke, are you okay? Like, do you want to split it or do you need anything?’ Or, ‘I know you got kids. Like, do you want some of dad’s t-shirts or a signed belt from him or anything?’ And um, you know, I feel like I’m being punished because I went no contact.”
Brooke believes that’s exactly what’s happening — she’s being punished because she went no-contact with both of her parents. She said that decision wasn’t about not wanting them in her life, but because she had reached her limit with how she felt they were treating her. Instead, Brooke feels like her decision has been twisted into her abandoning the family. For her, that makes the whole thing hurt twice as much because she says she desperately wanted relationships with both parents.
“And I went no contact with my dad because of how he treated me. And I went no contact with my mom because of how she treated me. And in return, I’m treated like I emancipated myself. Like I didn’t want to be with my dad. Like I didn’t want to be with my mom. Like I didn’t want my parents is how I’m being treated. And it’s like no, I wanted them more than anything. But I was so hurt by them. So not only do I get to get hurt by them, but I also get to get it thrown in my face.”
And Brooke definitely has some resentment over who was actually there for Hulk over the years. She claims she showed up for roughly 15 of her father’s surgeries and paid her own way to be there even while she was waiting tables. Meanwhile, Brooke claims Nick was living in Las Vegas and Hulk would have to beg him to visit. She said their dad would even pay Nick’s travel and hotel expenses whenever he did come around.
“And watch my brother who was not there for all 15 surgeries with my dad and watch my brother that really to me couldn’t care less was in Las Vegas for years. My dad would beg him to come visit him and anytime he’d come to visit my dad would pay for the flight and pay for the hotel and pay for the things. I came down while I was waiting tables paying my own way to be there at surgeries with my dad for years with his second wife Jen and she was a saint, right? And my brother didn’t treat her very nicely, but all of a sudden this new wife, he’s all buddy buddy.”
Brooke also believes Nick made the right connection toward the end of Hulk’s life. She pointed to his relationship with Hulk’s final wife and suggested it put him in a pretty convenient position once their father was gone. She didn’t dance around how she views that either. Brooke straight-up called the situation “calculated.”
“And um and it’s funny because at the end of my dad’s life, guess who gets to be friends and share everything? He chose the right person to suck up to, right? So, it’s like it’s very calculated and it’s just really sad to see.”
Then there’s the WWE situation, which clearly cuts especially deep. Brooke claims Nick has been attending events honoring Hulk while choosing not to invite her, despite everything she says she did for both her father and brother over the years. Brooke described seeing Nick at those WWE events as a “dagger in the heart.” She said she spent years trying to help him become independent, even offering him money so he wouldn’t have to depend on their parents and could make his own decisions.
“How do I not have a relationship with my brother when my whole life I was like, Nick, if you just get your own job, I used to tell Nick, I’d be like, I will send you money to break away from mom and dad so that you can make your own decisions. Like I will do whatever it takes so that you can break out on your own because when you have your own independence, you’re not manipulated by other people. You don’t have to.
You can tell the truth. You can say, ‘No, I’m not going that way with you because I don’t need you to pay my way.’ Like I wanted my brother to have the independence so much. And one of the saddest things that I have to admit is as much as him behaving this way after my dad died hurts to the core, there’s a part of a big sister in me that sees him at these events for my dad, at these WWE events that he has chosen not to invite me to. Dagger in the heart. He’s choosing to exclude me in every way, shape, and form. And honestly, I’ve been nothing but good to my brother.”
That’s what makes this so complicated for Brooke, because she clearly doesn’t just hate the guy and call it a day. She remembers buying Nick his first turntables, showing up for his DJ gigs and constantly trying to build him up whenever she felt Hulk’s jokes might have knocked him down. And even now, there’s still a part of her that’s proud when she sees Nick wearing Hulk’s red and yellow. Brooke admitted that she doesn’t know everything Nick may have dealt with mentally or what other people may have told him about her.
“And there’s a piece of me as a big sister that, like, I’ve seen that he’s been working out and he’s in good shape and, like, he’s standing there, you know, in the pictures and getting all the glory, you know. And I think to myself, I’m like, man, I put in so many hours and he rolled in at the last minute and just, you know, took over. But there’s a part of me that’s like maybe I don’t know what he struggled with mentally or maybe I don’t know everything that’s in his heart. And there’s a part of me that’s moved seeing him in red and yellow and seeing him be my dad’s son, you know.
I’m sure that’s all my dad wanted was for his boy to be like him, you know. So, I just—I’m accepting my defeat gracefully and passing the torch willingly, hoping that he would have my back. And he didn’t. But, you know, who knows what he’s been told about me, right? Like, who knows who’s been in his ear. He might not even know who his sister is. So that’s the saddest thing about situations like this is it tears families apart because people aren’t honest.”
But when it came down to how Brooke actually feels about Nick right now, she didn’t hold back at all. She said his betrayal hurts even more than what she experienced with either of their parents and called him a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” At the same time, Brooke still admitted she roots for him and wants him to be happy someday. That doesn’t mean she’s opening the door anytime soon, though.
“But I feel like, like my brother has betrayed me more than anybody, more than my parents. Um, he is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. And you know there’s a part of me that still roots for him, you know, that still wants happiness.”
Brooke then made it crystal clear that Nick currently has no place in her life. She hopes that could change someday, but she doesn’t believe he’s the person she remembers him being right now.
“And I’m like, I won’t allow him in my life. Not for a second because he’s not the pure person that I know is in there yet. But like I hope that one day he gets there and you know I don’t know if it’ll be in this life or the next.”
That’s a pretty different picture from Nick previously saying the Hogan family was in a “really good place.” Brooke had already revealed they weren’t speaking, but her comments show just how deep the problems actually run. Despite everything, she still hopes her brother eventually finds his way back to the person she remembers.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
