Hulk Hogan’s dependence on fentanyl after his 2009 divorce from Linda Hogan led to the professional wrestler’s death in 2025.
As documented in the new Netflix documentary Hulk Hogan: Real American, the wrestler recalled his divorce after 26 years of marriage in an interview filmed in July 2025, just days before his passing at 71 years old.
Hogan said that he joined Total Nonstop Wrestling (TNA) out of financial desperation because he gave his ex-wife “everything” in their divorce. In realizing that he was out of shape for wrestling, Hogan relied on the opioid to ease his pain.
“I was taking 80-milligram fentanyls, two in the morning, stuffing them under my gums here,” Hogan said in the interview. “I had two 300mg patches of fentanyl on my legs and they gave me six 1500mg fentanyl lollipops to eat."
Hogan added that when he went to the pharmacy for his prescription, he was warned by employees that he “should be dead.” “‘We have never seen a human being take this much fentanyl,’” he recalled the staff saying.
Hogan explained that he was in so much pain that he resorted to sleeping in a chair. "If I just twitched my finger like that, my whole back would spasm and torque."
According to reports, Linda was entitled to 70 percent of liquid assets and properties shared with her then-husband following their divorce, along with 40 percent of Hogan’s settlement with Gawker over his leaked sex tape. Despite their costly divorce, Linda has paid respects to Hogan on social media.
Hulk and Linda married in 1983 and shared two children, Brooke, 37, and Nick, 35.
