Watch: Hulk Hogan’s Ex Linda Hogan Shared Peek Into Their “Good Old Days” Days Before His Death
Hulk Hogan was a larger-than-life star in the wrestling ring, playing both hero and villain throughout his iconic career.
And the thrice-married entertainer, who died July 24 at 71, didn’t leave the drama in the arena.
The VH1 reality series Hogan Knows Best premiered in 2005, opening a door into his family world with Linda Hogan, then his wife of 22 years, as well as their daughter Brooke Hogan and son Nick Hogan, who were both teenagers living at home at the time.
And they had no qualms about getting messy in front of the cameras. While time was spent on Hulk (born Terry Bollea) being dear old dad, his marriage was obviously in trouble and Linda filed for divorce in October 2007 amid rumors he had cheated on her with a friend of Brooke’s.
Which turned out to be true.
Hulk admitted to having an affair but his rep told ABC News in 2009 that their marriage was “irrevocably broken and over” when he did.
“We all worked really hard and way too much to the point where we really didn’t have any emotion left,” Linda said on Good Morning America that August. “We were just robots functioning on a weird level.”
Carley Margolis/FilmMagic
The Hogan divorce proved messy, Hulk later suing Linda for defamation in 2011, claiming her memoir Wrestling the Hulk—My Life Against the Ropes—in which she alleged he was abusive during their marriage—contained numerous lies about him. The exes were ultimately in and out of court for the rest of the decade, tangling over money.
But Hulk moved on with his romantic life in the meantime, marrying Jennifer McDaniel in 2010.
He was already dating his future third wife, yoga instructor Sky Daily, when he confirmed in February 2022 that he and Jennifer had split up. (They started divorce proceedings in October 2021.)
He proposed to Sky, who was 25 years his junior, in July 2023 and they tied the knot two months later.
Brooke, now a mother of 7-month-old twins Oliver and Molly with hockey player husband Steve Oleksy, was notably not there to wish her dad and his new bride well.
“For my own journey to healing and happiness,” she explained on Instagram, “I have chosen to create some distance between myself and my family, and am focusing on people and things that heal my heart and align with my own personal beliefs, goals, and values.”
And her estrangement from her father continued in what turned out to be the final years of his life.
“It’s been 15—or longer—years since I left Hulk Hogan,” Linda said in a video posted to her Instagram Story in March, “and my family is in the worst mess.”
The 65-year-old continued, “Brooke doesn’t talk to us. She’s had twins. She got married, she didn’t tell us…She had a huge fight with Terry. I don’t know how that reflected onto me, but she cut me out too.”
Addressing “the tip of a very large iceberg” the next day, Brooke noted in a lengthy Instagram message that she had “completely separate reasons” for severing ties with her mom and dad.
“I longed for a normal family,” Brooke wrote, “but it never came to fruition.”
Not that there weren’t some highlights. Keep reading to see photos of the Hogan family in happier times:
Nick Hogan and Brooke Hogan may have, at times, publicly wrestled with their relationship with dad Hulk Hogan (with them in New York City in 1989), but there’s no dobut he was an icon in the wrestling community.
As Nick put it during a 2018 chat with TMZ, “Physically, he’s insane.”
Though actress and producer Brooke remained tight with her dad for years, she revealed in 2023 why she didn’t attend her father’s wedding to third wife Sky Daily, writing on Instagram, “For my own journey to healing and happiness, I have chosen to create some distance between myself and my family, and am focusing on people and things that heal my heart and align with my own personal beliefs, goals, and values.”
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Following the debut of their VH1 series Hogan Knows Best, Nick, Brooke, Linda and Hulk worked the carpet at the August 2005 MTV Video Music Awards.
Carley Margolis/FilmMagic
Nick, Hulk and his then-wife Linda Hogan all turned up to watch Brook sign copies of her disc Undiscovered in October 2006.
Amid their two-year Hogan Knows Best run, the fam stepped out for VH1’s Big in ’06 fete.
George Napolitano/FilmMagic
The family (at a June 2007 Father of the Year luncheon) began to fracture following Hulk (born Terry Gene Bollea) and Linda’s 2009 split. With Brooke welcoming twins Oliver and Molly with hockey player husband Steven Oleksy, she “doesn’t talk to us,” Linda revealed in a video shared to her Instagram Stories in March 2025. “She’s had twins. She got married, she didn’t tell us… She had a huge fight with Terry. I don’t know how that reflected onto me, but she cut me out too.”
Staying largely out of his sister’s feud with their parents, Nick (at a 2010 Comedy Central Roast) is “still such a good boy,” Linda shared in her March 2025 Instagram Stories admission.
Following a 12-year union with Jennifer McDaniel, Hulk began dating yoga instructor Sky Daily in 2022 after they met at a Bret Michaels concert. They walked down the aisle in September 2023.
Hulk made waves with his third bride Sky in a June 2023 Instagram snap. “Beach day with my Sky Baby,” wrote the Florida-based athlete, “it always seems just perfect, like she’s always been here.”
Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
Smitten with Hulk (at the Jake Paul vs Mike Perry fight in July 2024), when they met through friends, Sky has called him “the one I adore.”
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