Brooke Hogan stopped speaking to her father, late WWE legend Hulk Hogan, because of the way he treated her – not because of his new wife, Sky Daily.
That is according to Brooke’s husband, former NHL star Steven Oleksy, who has lifted the lid on the estrangement in the years before Hogan’s death last month.
The wrestling icon suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away at the age of 71. By then, Hogan had gone nearly a decade without speaking to Brooke, 36.
The family rift spilled into the open earlier this year and now Oleksy has opened up on why Brooke turned away from her dad.
Hogan married his third wife, Daily, in 2023. Brooke did not attend the wedding but her husband told PEOPLE that it was ‘not the case at all’ that Brooke cut communications because she disapproved of the relationship.
In fact, Oleksy accused Hogan of pushing that false narrative.
‘My wife will say it — it had nothing to do with his new wife. It had to do with the way he treated (Brooke),’ Oleksy said. ‘It was a situation where she loved her dad very, very much.’
Brooke and her father Hulk Hogan arrive for the MTV Video Music Awards in 2004
But Oleksy claimed that Brooke paid a heavy price for standing by her father, who found himself at the center of several scandals – including when he used racial slurs in reference to Brooke’s ex-boyfriend. That support had ‘really taken a toll on her,’ her husband said.
Oleksy and Brooke tied the knot in June 2022 without Hogan. Oleksy claims that the wrestling legend told him he ‘doesn’t do weddings or funerals anymore.’
And the final straw, according to Oleksy, was a ‘series of phone calls’ between father and daughter when ‘there were some things said, and a lot of mistruths.’
In the two years between Hogan marrying Daily and the wrestling legend’s shock death, Oleksy stayed in touch with his wife’s family, telling PEOPLE he was trying ‘to keep that door open and understand if I should protect my wife or try to mend the relationship.’
But every conversation with his father-in-law, the former hockey player said, ‘just led me further to protect my family and my wife at all costs.’
He told PEOPLE that, Brooke’s love for her family brought ‘heartache and… many challenges that she’s faced in the public and that she still faces today because of others’ actions.’
