Linda Hogan paid tribute to her ex-husband Hulk Hogan after his death at age 71.
“I had no idea he would pass away this soon,” Linda, 65, commented Monday, July 28 on her own Instagram post. “We all really thought he would make a come back! Big surprise. We are all devastated. It’s hitting me so hard.”
Linda said she “never spoke or saw” Hulk in the years leading up to his death, but would get tidbits about his life from their son, Nick.
“Nick would tell me things and vice versa,” Linda explained. “Just news about life. I still felt .. although broken .. we still were a family. It’s so hard to know he’s just gone. I tried to stay strong for Nick … but I’m melting down now. It’s very sad.”
Hulk Hogan Family Guide: Inside Public Estrangement and Multiple Wives
Linda concluded her message, “I love you Hulkster. You were my man. The only man for me. RIP.”
Hulk and Linda tied the knot in 1983 and welcomed daughter Brooke in 1988 and son Nick in 1990. The pair called it quits in 2007 when Linda filed for divorce. The proceedings were ultimately finalized in 2009.
Following his divorce from Linda, Hulk was married to Jennifer McDaniel from 2010 to 2021. He wed his third wife, Sky Daily, in 2023.
Hulk died on Thursday, July 24, his family previously confirmed to Us Weekly.
According to police in Clearwater, Florida, Hulk suffered cardiac arrest at his home. Clearwater Fire Department and Clearwater Police Department responded to a medical call at 9:51 a.m. on Thursday. Hulk was treated by Clearwater Fire & Rescue before being transported to Morton Plant Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Hulk’s death came one month after Us reported that he was recovering from a major heart operation.
“Hulk had pretty serious heart surgery a few weeks ago and was doing well afterward,” a source told Us in June.
Hulk Hogan Through the Years: From Wrestling to His Film Career
Prior to Hulk’s death, Us confirmed that he and Linda were estranged from daughter Brooke, 37.
“Terry not speaking to Brooke is [a] much more recent thing,” an insider said in March, referring to Hulk by his real name, Terry Gene Bollea.
According to the source, Hulk told people he didn’t “specifically know why” Brooke would not “speak to him.”
Hulk and Linda’s split might have been one reason for the tension in the family, with the insider noting, “A lot of damage was done during their divorce.”
Reliving Hulk Hogan’s Life Out of the WWE Spotlight
As for Hulk’s relationship with his and Linda’s son, Nick, 34, he was still “very close” to Brooke’s brother before his death, the source added, telling Us that Hulk “for sure tried to be a good dad” to his children.
Amid the family drama, Linda defended Hulk in a March interview with TMZ, claiming he was “a s***ty husband sometimes” but “always a good father.”
“[He] spent probably over $3 million on Brooke’s career, with no questions asked,” she said. “Our marriage didn’t work out, but what Brooke’s doing to us is completely unprecedented, unexpected and unfair and not true. Hulk Hogan, my ex, has been really distraught and saddened by her distance, just as I and her brother, Nick, [are] as well.”
