My Life Outside the Ring

I really did not know what to expect when I opened this book. I was pleasently surprised in the detail he provided, and the overall message he sent in this book. Hulk Hogan was one of my idols growing up, and I followed his career through watching him virtually every week on tv. I had no idea the struggles he indured to get where he is today, and the lows he reached in recient years. I am amazed at how just reading and being open to change can be so life changing. I too am at a cross roads with my life and it seemed negitivity was right on for the ride. After reading this book I opened my eyes and realized that life is too short to be angry and bitter about everything. I have sat down and re-read the book 2x since I originally picked it up, and everytime I do I feel everything will be ok as long as I keep looking up and if I keep positive. I will eventually get to where I want to go in life. Fanstastic book, one of my new favorates.

I wasn't sure how to take this book...Hulk Hogan is a guy that has been telling untruths with a seriously straight face for so long I didn't know if I could believe anything he would say or write. In fact it took me about 50 pages to get over my prejudice and get into his story. I'm really glad I did because this is a book you can enjoy on many levels. There is something for the wrestling fan wanting an insiders look. There is something for the person who wants to know more about celebrity and the trappings of that world. There is also something here for someone who just wants to be inspired by an oversized man with oversized goals who has over and over pulled himself up , dusted himself off and started all over again. There is still a fair amount of hyperbole , but I can't imagine that Hulk could really resist embellishing here and there. Ultimately, I came away happy I read this book, and hope that Terry..er Hulk breathes clean air for many many more years....highly recommended.

I grew up watching this guy, taking his advice; eating my vitamins, doing my exercises and saying my prayers. I have always been a huge fan, and am so even more now after Terry bared his sole in his book, "My Life Outside the Ring." Reading this now in my mid thirties, I was not surprised to read about how he was living in excess while I was idolizing him in the 1980's. He openly admits to behaviors and actions in this book, that had I known about at the time as a pre-teen and early teen, would have devastated me. I certainly would have labelled him a hypocrite. However, as a grown man, I no longer view life through rose colored glasses and I would be surprised more to find my hero wasn't living as he was in those days. I applaud him for his honesty about it now, and have no ill will. He inspired me to believe in myself at the time, and his book has done that again, now at the adult level, for in it, we see that the whole "vitamins, prayers and exercise" thing certainly was a staged line, but the intensity, desire, and belief in doing what is right was real. The caring for other people and wanting to reach out and positivly affect as many people as possible was real and it still is. It is heart wrenching to hear what Terry (Hulk) went through during his 23 year marriage to his wife, a woman who would spend upwards of $50,000.00 a month at Walmart and had to have a multi-million dollar mansion (one $14.5 million) in practically every town she liked. The verbal abuse Terry and his kids went through at the hands of a suffering alcoholic was brutal, the type of thing you would expect in the trailer parks, but certainly not at this level of societal living, but the Hulkster endured it, as did his children. Yet they kept moving forward, working through their trials and tribulations, depending on each other and the love they shared. Some of the stories in the book are absolutely sickening, like the Opportunistic lawyers and the Graziano family. Here Terry and his family took their wayward son, John Graziano, a troubled Iraqi war vet, into their home and treated him as one of their own. Hulk and his family camped out at his hospital room, put his parents up in expensive hotels, hell, his mother in an apartment when Hulk found out she was homeless........ and at the end of the day they end up slapping him with a huge lawsuit that would literally ruin him financially if he loses..... you should be ashamed of yourselves Graziano family! There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The drama doesn't just disappear, but Terry finds spirituality, and begins getting through the drama by changing his mindset. Like the saying goes, "When you look at things differently, the things you see look different." I was happy to see that Hulk found new love in his girl friend Jennifer and that he is turning all these "life issues" which is different than life itself, over to the care of a higher power. I believe the Hulkster's brightest days are ahead of him still. He

If you're going to get the full Hulk Hogan experience in book form, I strongly suggest reading "Hollywood Hulk Hogan," his other autobiography, before reading "My Life Outside the Ring." Where "Hollywood" really tells it's tale is in Hogan's career in professional wrestling - from having his leg broken by Hiro Matsuda, to working for Vince McMahon, Sr. in the WWWF, making Rocky III and eventually returning to the WWF with Vince McMahon, Jr. and creating what is known today as Hulkamania. "Hollywood" features a more robust retelling of these events but "My LIfe" quickly glosses over some of the more memorable points to appease the hardcore wrestling fans. Reading "My Life" discusses more of Hogan's childhood, his infatuation with the professional wrestling scene, the day he met his former wife Linda, and the events after his son's famous car accident. If you've done any following of the released prison tapes, read any tabloid newspapers or heard any rumors of Hulk Hogan in passing, "My Life" does its best to set the record straight and provide cold, hard facts. Even if you're not the wrestling fan that tunes in week after week, "My Life" is a great read about the life of one of the most memorable celebrities in recent history.

This is Hulk's second book and it is interesting to compare this one with his previous book Hollywood Hulk Hogan from 2003. In the first book, we got a lot of wrestling stories and we also saw a lot of Hulk's life glossed over and certain events minimised to a great extent. Admittedly the book was written with the backing of the WWE so there was limits to what could be written. In his latest book, we see very little wrestling discussion and much more of a real look at Terry Bollea the man rather than Hulk Hogan the wrestler. Hulk has had a bad last few years with the injuries from his career starting to take a greater toll on him, his son being involved in a major car wresck that left his friend permanently injured and sent Hulk's son to jail for 8 months. There was Hulk's divorce and the subsequent financial punishment that he faced with the divorce and the lawsuits coming from the car accident. Hulk was a nearly beaten man by 2007. In this book, Hulk tells us of his feelings leading into his issues and then how he slowly but surely climbed out from the troubles to become a better man. He sets the story straight on the rumours that were circulating about him and his conduct in the last few years. Has he glossed over some things? Maybe, maybe not, but considering the amount of things that he discusses in this book (drugs, marital infidelity allegations, thoughts of suicide etc), he hasn't left many stones unturned at all. This is a far better book than the rather ordinary 2003 book. Hogan lets it all out in My Life Outside the Ring and one gets the feeling that you have read a quality book. Recommended.