Who is The Rock’s trailblazing ex-wife, Dany Garcia? The bodybuilding businesswoman became his manager after their divorce and made the deals that turned him from WWE superstar into Hollywood bigwig

Oct 12 , 2024

If you thought Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was impressive, you should meet his ex wife, Dany Garcia. Photo: @danygarciaco/Instagram

The pair were married for 10 years and share a daughter, but after divorcing in 2007, Garcia became his manager and helped him transition to acting and build a portfolio of business interests

He got his start as a popular WWE wrestler, but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made the jump from athlete to actor then to major entertainment industry player in one of the most successful transitions in entertainment history. While his ethos of always being the “hardest worker in the room” has played a large role in his overwhelming success, Johnson can also thank his ex-wife Dany Garcia for helping him navigate a career swerve from acting to producing with a segue into business.

Dany Garcia showed off her girlboss style during the week five kick-off for the UFL. Photo: @danygarciaco/Instagram

A second-generation Cuban-American who grew up in New Jersey, Dany Garcia studied at the University of Miami (where she met Johnson), and began her career in finance after graduating with a degree in international finance and marketing. The couple eventually married and had a daughter, Simone Johnson, but called it quits in 2007 after 10 years of marriage, per the Daily Mail. At the time, Johnson was trying to move from wrestling to acting and, with the amicable divorce behind them, asked Garcia to manage him, as reported in Foundr.

She got to work building a multifaceted empire that includes Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions company. Johnson is now happily married and shares two daughters with his second wife, singer Lauren Hashian, but he still works closely with Garcia, who is clearly still part of The Rock’s ohana.

So who is Dany Garcia? Here’s what else we know about Dwayne Johnson’s ex-wife.

She’s a former banker

Dany Garcia promotes Tremana, the tequila brand she founded with her ex husband, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Photo: @danygarciaco/Instagram

Garcia is former banker who climbed the ranks at Merrill Lynch before founding her own private wealth management firm, JDM Partners. After her divorce from Johnson, she left the firm to become his manager and founded Seven Bucks Productions – and its subsidiaries for TV and digital platforms – in 2012. Under these banners, they produced a number of films and TV shows that Johnson has starred in, including Baywatch (2017), Black Adam (2022) and Ballers.

Dany Garcia looked stylish in the tunnel at a UFL championship game in June. Photo: @danygarciaco/Instagram

Later, Garcia created The Garcia Companies to channel her business acumen into brokering major deals for Johnson across a diverse portfolio of projects. Now, the empire includes interests in fashion, sports, technology and F&B and includes companies Athleticon, Acorns, Atom Tickets and TGC Management. Garcia was also instrumental in paving the way for Johnson’s Project Rock Collection with sportswear brand Under Armour, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Dany Garcia at a UFL playoff game in June. Photo: @danygarciaco/Instagram

Despite successfully rebranding The Rock from actor to business mogul, Garcia revealed that she had to take a step back to focus on the business strategy of The Garcia Companies as a whole. “I fired myself – he was very gracious – because I needed to move into a strategic advisory position over his enterprise in particular, which is ginormous,” she shared in an interview with Foundr.