Wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan has died, his manager confirmed. He was 71.
Manager Chris Volo told NBC Los Angeles that Hogan died at his home in Clearwater, Florida, surrounded by family.
Clearwater Fire and Rescue responded to his home at 9:51 a.m. Thursday for a reported cardiac arrest, according to a media release from the city. Hogan was pronounced dead at the scene, the statement said.
Hogan, whose given name is Terry Bollea, attained pro wrestling stardom in the 1980s and 1990s and was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s five-decade history. He was the main draw for the first-ever WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years in its signature event, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even company chairman Vince McMahon.
He won six WWE championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by Sylvester Stallone.
But he was able to transcend his “Hulkamania” fan base to become a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, including a reality show about his life on VH1, “Hogan Knows Best.”
In 2013, he filed a $100 million lawsuit against the website Gawker for posting part of the sex tape of him with Heather Cole, the ex-wife of Hogan’s one-time friend and radio show host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. The trial was salacious and exposed lurid details of his private life. A jury eventually awarded him $140 million dollars in the invasion of privacy lawsuit and he eventually settled with the company for $31 million. The years-long legal wrangling led to the media company’s bankruptcy and the shutdown of Gawker.com.
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. severed ties with Hogan in July 2015 on the heels of an audio release that contained him using repeated racial slurs to describe a man his daughter was dating at the time. Hogan said the decision “devastated me. The bottom dropped out.” In 2018, he was reinstated into the organization after “numerous public apologies and volunteering to work with young people, where he is helping them learn from his mistake.”
Hogan is survived by his ex-wife Linda Bollea and their two children, Brooke Hogan, 37, and Nick Hogan, 34.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
