Hulk Hogan’s Final Interview Reveals Struggle with Fentanyl Addiction
In his final interview, recorded prior to his death, Hulk Hogan provided a harrowing account of his excessive consumption of fentanyl following his return to Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling in 2009. In the Netflix docuseries Hulk Hogan: Real American, the legendary wrestling figure—who passed away at the age of 71 in July 2025—recalled the immense physical pain he endured during that period, which he attempted to manage through heavy opioid use.
“I was taking 80-milligram fentanyls, two in the morning, stuffing them under my gums here,” Hogan shared in the series. “I had two 300 mg patches of fentanyl on my legs, and they gave me six 1,500 mg fentanyl lollipops to eat. I went to the pharmacy, he goes, ‘You should be dead. We have never seen a human being take this much fentanyl.’”
Eric Bischoff, a former wrestling executive who helped facilitate Hogan’s contract with TNA, provided additional context regarding the star’s fragile state at the time. Hogan had recently finalized a divorce from his wife, Linda Hogan, which left him financially devastated. Despite his physical condition, he felt compelled to continue working in the high-impact world of professional wrestling.
“Your wife’s divorcing you, your doctors are giving you fistfuls of pills that would kill a horse, and you’re chasing it down with a quart of vodka a day,” Bischoff noted, describing the difficulty of witnessing Hogan’s rapid decline into substance dependency. According to Hogan, the isolation of his personal life exacerbated his reliance on medication. He described the pain as so debilitating that he could no longer sleep in a bed, opting instead to rest in a chair to avoid the agonizing spasms that would occur with even the slightest movement.
Hogan ultimately died from an acute myocardial infarction. Medical records later revealed that he had been living with atrial fibrillation and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, conditions that complicated his health in his final years.
