Dwayne Johnson has opened up about a “painful’” testicular cancer scare.
In a new interview with Esquire magazine, the famed actor detailed the moment he found a lump on one of his testicles, and the panic that followed.
It was a recent Friday when he first noticed the lump, telling the publication that it was “painful” when he touched it, leading him to believe it could be a serious issue.
But rather than worry those around him, he decided to keep it to himself until he knew what was going on.
“I didn’t even tell Lauren,” he said, referring to his wife of seven years.
“I didn’t want to worry her before I knew if it was anything to even worry about.”
Johnson let a few days pass, hoping the issue would get better, but over time, it only became more painful.
So, on Sunday evening he called his doctor, who said it could likely be one of two things: epididymitis, or cancer.
The following morning, Johnson was set to appear at a promotional event for the upcoming film Jumanji 3, so an ultrasound would have to wait another day.
“So I had to live with that for those twenty-four hours, not knowing,” he said.
“And I had to be on all day, joking around, making speeches.”
Thankfully, after going to get checked out, the star found out that the issue was simply an inflammation of a tube at the back of the testicle where sperm is stored, and it was, in fact, not cancer.
“I’m fine,” he clarified.
“But I didn’t know that then, and the thing was really painful.”
Johnson has been open about previous health issues, in 2025 appearing on The Mark Hyman Show, where he detailed his years-long struggle with digestive tract issues.
“That was at the beginning of 2024, and I was just getting ready to launch into what would become a nine-month workload for me — nonstop work,” he shared.
“And I was thinking, ‘Holy s—, how am I going to get through this with my gut issues? I’m not digesting properly.’”
He eventually had to go on a strict diet of probiotics and plant compounds such as pomegranate, green tea and cranberry in an attempt to rehab his gut and essentially “rebuild it”.
