Ike McFadden Profile picture
Jul 9, 2021 11 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Things I Learned Hanging Out w/ Hulk Hogan

Hulk wasn't the first celebrity/actor I worked with, but he was one of the most unusual.

In a good way.

(THREAD)
I worked with Hulk pretty regularly for several years; and one of those years was really memorable.

Mainly because just about everything in Hulk's life was completely falling apart.

In the course of just 12 months the following stuff happened to him:
- His wife filed for divorce after 20 years

- He had no pre-nup agreement, so he was in bad financial trouble.

- After forcing him out of his house, she very publicly hooked up with a 20 year old surfer, who moved into to the house...
- His son went to jail for a car accident that turned his best friend into a vegetable in a coma

- A sex tape emerged of him, taped by his good friend Bubba, and spread by gossip-site Gawker and owner Nick Denton

- He was accused of being a racist...
As a result...

- Hulk gets pulled into a $100M lawsuit vs Gawker, financed by billionaire Peter Thiel

- The bad press means most of his income stops.

- He's removed from the WWE website and all licensed products and toys

- All endorsement gigs end...
There are more details, but the basic point is that this guy has his entire life, personal and professional, completely fall apart.

At an age when most people are retiring to the beach...Hogan is seeing his life destroyed.
I spent a ton of time just hanging out in cars or airports with they guy at the time.

I heard most every phone call on just about every topic going on.

What astounded me was...how well he handled this period of his life.
Constant nonstop crisis.

And he was always cool. Always polite. Always friendly.

Never saw him yell, or lose his temper.

You could tell it weighed on him...but he had faith that, no matter how bad things were...they'd get better.
He also was a man of faith.

Crazy, insane stuff could happen to him...and I'd hear him say...

"Well, I guess the Lord has a plan for me in all this. Just gotta have faith"...
I remember after one really awful-sounding call finished...

...we were driving through the Nevada desert on the way to Las Vegas.

It was late in the day. He hung up the phone and looked out the window, silently.

I wondered what in the world he was thinking...
He was quiet for a solid couple of minutes, staring.

The sky was getting dark, red and purple.

He then said....

"Look at that sunset. Isn't that a beautiful thing? All this beauty. Everywhere. Just for us. Someone loves us."

- - - -

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Ike McFadden

Ike McFadden Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Ike__McFadden

May 19, 2022
What does Go Woke / Go Broke Mean in Hollywood?

(A THREAD on CASTING)

Earlier today, I was having a conversation with a friend who is a casting director. She said she was coming under criticism for casting decisions she made recently.

- - -
She told me the criticism, and asked me to help her understand it.

This is rough summary of our conversation.

She started by asking me:
"Ike, this is a historic film. But our goal isn't to be historically accurate...our goal is to entertain!

Why can't I cast whoever I want in the lead?"

She wanted to understand why she was getting flak for her creative casting decisions.

She just wanted to entertain.
Read 15 tweets
Apr 4, 2022
Most guys at some point have an innate urge to date beautiful women.

I'm not saying you *should* date models, but if you want to...here are some tips.

Here's what I've learned about dating models, and where to meet them.

/ THREAD /
1) Attend Fashion Week in a fashion capital.

Paris, Milan, and New York are all some of the most influential fashion capitals in the world.

So, they’re a hotbed for meeting models from all over the world—especially during Fashion Week, when designers show their new stuff...
Before you head out to one of these areas, look up the dates for their Fashion Weeks as well as their event schedules.

Attend at least a few of these events, provided you can secure access to them beforehand.

Small shows are easy to attend, sign up to their email list...
Read 8 tweets
Mar 23, 2022
- Things I Learned from David Hasselhoff -

< A Hoff-tastic Thread >

1) BE GOOD AT YOUR JOB

I worked on several media projects with Hasselhoff.

Last time was when we were on Bloomberg TV together promoting a game.

In all that time, I never saw him flub a SINGLE line...
Perfect take after perfect take.

Practice might not make perfect, but it makes you darn good over time.

It also meant morning shows always loved to have him on.

Which made promoting events incredibly easy...
2) DON'T QUIT, EVER

Remember Knight Rider?

That success was nothing compared to Baywatch.

Baywatch holds the world record for the most-watched TV show in history...

1 BILLION viewers per week in 150 countries...

But it almost didn't happen...
Read 8 tweets
Mar 14, 2022
-Why is the Russian Military Doing So Bad?-

(A military-politico Thread)

Russia seems bogged down. Why?

Russia has terrible demographics. Below replacement birth-rate.

And the number of top-leaders who are knowledgable+experienced is small...

...and shrinking.

Why? ImageImage
Casualties have been high in Ukraine, as you might know.

Thanks to the fall of the Soviets, the number of experienced, educated political & military leaders is small.

A bad economy, and a generation of alcohol abuse, while perhaps understandable...

...will do that to you. So?
In the late Soviet period, the early 80s, the KGB basically took over the government.

Andropov, Gorbachev...these folks all came from the KGB.

Which means there is a limited group of people to draw on, who are experienced.

Putin was one of this crowd.
Read 7 tweets
Mar 4, 2022
Things I Learned Working with Clint Eastwood

(A Manly Thread)

Years back, I had the pleasure to work with one of my idols, Clint Eastwood.

It was great seeing him in action, because he is so 100% Not-Hollywood-At-All...
Technically, I worked for Sequoia Lighting, the lighting company owned by Tom Stern...

When Eastwood directs, Tom is usually his cinematographer. But the point is, I got to hang around productions a lot.

Eastwood is famous for not shooting like a normal Hollywood director...
Most directors will do endless takes of a scene, spending days shooting a single page in a script.

Eastwood is the opposite. I routinely saw him do 2 takes. "Good enough, let's move on."

He could easily shoot 10 pages of script a day...which is unheard of in Hollywood...
Read 7 tweets
Mar 3, 2022
Digital Nomad Tips: MONACO

(A Short Thread - a Month in Monaco)

Monaco is tiny city-state on the French Riviera. Technically, it's its own little country.

It's one of the most expensive and wealthiest places in the world.

So, how do you hang out without being rich...?
The architecture, particularly in Monte Carlo, is that of the Belle Époque...old Euro glamour.

You've probably seen it in the movies.

Because it's so wealthy, it's also super clean.

I'm sure you could easily eat off the streets in Monaco...
There are a couple of co-working/co-living groups in Monaco, like CocoHub.

But honestly, if I had it to do again, I think the best way to do Monaco on a budget is to stay in a nearby town, like Nice.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(