Hulk Hogan fans are lashing out at his reality star daughter for a belated reaction to his death that included a shot of her bikini-clad derriere.
Brooke Hogan, 38, was estranged from her 71-year-old father when he died from a heart attack amid a number of health struggles in July of 2025. But although she voluntarily asked to be removed from his will in 2023, refused to take part in a 2025 Netflix docuseries about his life and later skipped his funeral, Brooke is now outwardly grieving his passing.
‘Needed some time with my thoughts,’ Brooke captioned a lengthy Instagram post on Wednesday.
Her slideshow started with the offending photo, showing herself laying face down at the beach. The centrepiece of the shot is the horizon, presumably off Florida’s gulf coast, but it was Brooke’s backside poking out from the bottom right-hand corner of the frame that grabbed critics’ attention.
‘I miss my daddy so much,’ one wrote. ‘And look, everyone. Here’s a picture of my butt.’
Others shared similar jokes: ‘I’m having some deep, conflicting emotions about my father, who has passed on… Anyway, here’s my a**.’
Brooke Hogan, 38, shared a photo of herself sunbathing to reflect on her father’s dath
The slideshow included several photos of Hulk Hogan enjoying the Gulf of Mexico
Brooke Hogan attends the 2019 CMT Music Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville
Others noticed her rear but were nonetheless more supportive.
‘I’ve never been jealous of the sun before,’ read one response to her sunbathing.
A more direct comment read: ‘Nice a**.’
Brooke’s apparent intention in including the photo was to reference the ocean, where she and Hogan spent much of their time together as she grew up along Florida’s gulf coast.
Other slides show Hogan grilling poolside, racing his speedboat, and watching the setting sun over the Gulf of Mexico.
‘[My] daddy and the ocean he loved so much,’ Brooke wrote on Instagram. ‘Every wave hit my heart like a memory that felt like it was yesterday. The waves carried the bass in his voice, the salt water felt like his hugs.
‘The smell of the ocean smelled like so many days on the boat we spent together. I remember him whisking me across the surf like King Triton holding his Little Mermaid… if I could breathe underwater, I’d spend forever under the sea if it meant being that much closer to him.’
She ended by writing: ‘The tears were endless today.’
Hogan is pictured grilling poolside in the Instagram slide show shared by daughter Brooke
Brooke had once co-starred with her family on a VH1 reality show, but had gone years without talking to either of her parents, who divorced in 2009 after the series went off the air
Much of Hulk Hogan’s free time was spent on his speed boat in the Gulf of Mexico
Criticism of Brooke’s post was limited to a handful of nasty comments, while many others offered supportive statements. Some shared their love of her father, often expressing the moment they got to meet Hogan, while others discussed the pain of losing one of their own parents.
Brooke had once co-starred with her family on a VH1 reality show, but had gone years without talking to either of her parents, who divorced in 2009 after the series went off the air.
One of the lowest points in their fractured relationship came when a leaked sex tape of Hogan surfaced in 2015 catching him in a racist rant about Brooke and her then-boyfriend Yannique Barker.
‘That was so rough,’ Brooke told US Weekly in April. ‘My dad got so much, like, ‘Oh my gosh, poor Hulk. He’s going through this. He’s fighting the sex tape thing.’ I’m like, ‘What about us?’ We were the subject of it.’
Brooke is married to former NHL player Steven Oleksy. The couple shares twins Oliver and Molly.
