Even though Hogan Knows Best went off the air over 15 years ago, Hulk Hogan and his family’s drama and scandals have been non stop. Everything that’s happened in their lives over the years has been so crazy that you’re going to be absolutely shocked…
Hogan Knows Best was a reality show on VH1 that documented the bizarre lives of professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and his family. The series ran for four seasons that spanned from 2005 to 2007, before it ended up being canceled.
It turns out that Hulk, whose real name is Terry Bollea, and his family were even more dysfunctional than viewers realized.
Although it was entertaining to watch Hulk, his wife Linda, and their kids Brooke and Nick, I feel like there was a weird tension between them at times.
It really seemed like there were some big issues going on behind the scenes of Hogan Knows Best. But it wasn’t until the fourth and final season aired that those troubles really came to light, and they were honestly unbelievable.
Nick Hogan Went to Jail After Crashing His Car
In 2007, right after the family finished filming the fourth season, Nick was in a very serious car crash. He was only 17 years old, and he had already been issued speeding tickets for going over 100 miles per hour a few times. But I guess Nick still hadn’t realized how risky his extreme speeding was, because his accident was downright horrifying.
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Although Nick only had minor injuries from the high-speed crash, his friend who was riding with him wasn’t so lucky… John Graziano had such severe injuries from the accident that he not only suffered brain damage, but his life drastically changed in another way… I can’t believe how tragic this still is…
Unfortunately, John had to spend two years in the hospital, and he will need full-time medical care for the rest of his life. I can’t even imagine how devastating this was and still is for John’s family. And because of the extent of John’s injuries, Nick was in serious trouble. But that’s not all — his charges were about to get way worse.
It turns out, Nick had been under the influence of substances when he crashed his car. That, along with everything else, understandably landed him in jail for five months. I’m sure Nick felt an unimaginable amount of guilt, but it was too late to change anything.
Thankfully, John’s family was able to reach a $5 million settlement with Nick and his family to help cover legal fees and medical bills. But that wasn’t the only strain on Hulk and his family at the time. What happened just weeks after the final episode of Hogan Knows Best aired was completely unexpected.
Hulk Allegedly Cheated With One of Brooke’s Friends
Shockingly, Linda filed for divorce from Hulk in November 2007. According to People magazine, Hulk was totally blindsided, even though he admitted they’d been having problems for ten years. Linda claimed that their marriage of 24 years was broken beyond repair, so I figured that she had a pretty big reason behind her decision to file for divorce.
But when she explained and made some bombshell allegations about Hulk, I was absolutely blown away. Linda accused Hulk of cheating on her, which was obviously terrible in itself. But then she revealed that Hulk actually had an affair with one of their daughter Brooke’s friends.
I don’t think anyone was surprised that Hulk denied the cheating allegation altogether, especially since he claimed the family’s reality show was what caused Linda to file for divorce. But I’m guessing he didn’t expect the woman he allegedly had an affair with, Christiane Plante, to publicly expose him. This was honestly unreal.
Christiane confirmed during an interview with the National Enquirer that she had, in fact, been in a secret relationship with Hulk. I feel like she desperately wanted to either cover her tracks or clear her conscience, but in turn, she made Hulk and Linda’s divorce even messier than it already was. What Christiane revealed was so insane.
Apparently, Christiane didn’t see anything wrong with the secret romance at first. As crazy as it sounds, she claimed that Hulk and Linda both knew their marriage was coming to an end anyway, so she didn’t think the affair was wrong. I can’t even begin to understand how she managed to justify helping her good friend’s dad cheat on his wife.
Allegedly, Christiane regretted her part in the affair once she realized it had destroyed her friendship with Brooke. And speaking of Brooke, she was so furious. She basically outed her dad as a liar in a MySpace post that she quickly deleted, which was extremely incriminating.
Brooke all but confirmed the truth behind the affair rumors by calling out her dad and Christiane for both betraying her. Even though she had been Hulk’s little girl for so long, I have a feeling it took quite a while for her to forgive him.
Hulk and Linda’s Divorce Was an Expensive One
Despite everything that had been exposed about the affair, Hulk STILL denied it in his 2009 autobiography, My Life Outside The Ring. But if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that Hulk’s divorce took an unthinkable financial toll on him. The amount of money he lost was honestly enormous.
Linda was the clear winner when it came to finances in the divorce. At the time, Hulk’s net worth was roughly $30 million, but he actually had to sell a lot of his properties just to pay Linda. Once their divorce was finalized in 2009, the details of their settlement were released by E! News.
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The way the couple’s money was divided was so astounding, I could barely believe it. Not only did Hulk have to pay Linda $3 million for their property settlement, but she was also awarded a whopping $7.4 million from the couple’s joint investment accounts.
And if that didn’t hurt Hulk’s bank account enough, Linda was also granted 40 percent ownership of his companies and 70 percent of their shared liquid assets. But believe it or not, that still wasn’t everything. Hulk was also ordered to pay for almost $200,000 of Linda’s legal fees because he kept asking for court continuances.
Both Hulk and Linda Dated Much Younger People
I was completely stunned that by the time the couple’s divorce was finalized, Hulk was reportedly left with just $3.9 million. But as startling as the financial matters were, nothing came close to being as weird as what happened next.
Basically right after the divorce was filed, both Hulk and Linda had moved on to new relationships. Hulk started dating Jennifer McDaniel in 2008, and the couple actually got married in 2010. Some people thought it was strange that Jennifer was 21 years younger than Hulk and looked similar to his daughter.
But I don’t think any of that mattered much once Linda’s super controversial relationship was revealed. Linda also started dating someone younger in 2008, but her new boyfriend was only 19 years old.
I get that there isn’t a huge difference when you compare Hulk’s 21-year age gap with his girlfriend to Linda’s nearly 30-year age gap with her boyfriend, Charlie Hill. But the fact that Jennifer was in her 40s was way easier to process than Linda dating a literal teenager.
But as I’m sure you probably expected, Hulk and Linda’s rushed romances didn’t go incredibly smoothly. A few years later, Charlie and Linda surprisingly got engaged. But later that same year, they decided to call it quits.
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I was relieved that it seemed like a pretty amicable breakup at first, but that quickly took a turn for the worst. Before long, Charlie accused Linda of doing something absolutely crazy.
Charlie claimed that Linda had taken advantage of him by making him do a lot of physical labor, which allegedly included waxing a boat and digging a creek. He even filed a lawsuit about the issue and tried to get $1.5 million from Linda. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from the legal battle, but then the situation took a really strange twist.
Linda’s lawyer announced that Charlie had signed a confidentiality agreement when he and Linda broke up, which had some odd conditions. Charlie was able to keep his vehicle and $9,000, but he wasn’t allowed to speak about their relationship.
That’s why I really don’t know what Charlie expected by filing his lawsuit against Linda, but I’m guessing it wasn’t anything close to what actually happened. This is seriously bizarre. Linda filed a countersuit against Charlie for violating their agreement, which she astonishingly won.
I wonder if the stressful split with Charlie is why Linda has seemingly stayed single for the last decade. I guess if she has dated anyone else, she’s been able to hide it pretty well at least. In fact, Linda has remained out of the spotlight for the most part, and she seems content to live a peaceful life with her rescue dogs.
Not the same can be said for Hulk, though. He’s had some huge changes in his life even recently, and you’ll never guess what they are.
Hulk Ended Up Remarrying Twice
Hulk was married to Jennifer for over ten years, until he filed for divorce at the end of 2021. Before many people even knew about his second divorce, Hulk had already started dating Sky Daily. I couldn’t help but notice there’s a big difference in Hulk’s new relationship compared to his previous marriages, and it’s definitely not a bad thing.
Sky has kept a much lower profile than Hulk’s exes, and her social media accounts are even private. I’m sure that probably has to do with the fact that she has three kids and wants to keep some parts of her life private. Aside from being a mom, Sky is also a yoga instructor and an accountant.
There’s actually not a whole lot of public details about Sky and Hulk’s relationship, but maybe that’s for the best. After all, he was involved with enough public drama during an insanely scandalous lawsuit a few years ago. Hulk married Sky in late 2023.
Hulk’s privacy was completely violated when a gossip outlet, Gawker, exposed something extremely personal of his. Apparently, the outlet published part of an adult video featuring Hulk and his former friend’s wife. I don’t blame Hulk for filing a lawsuit, but I almost couldn’t believe it when he finally won the case in 2016.
He was awarded $140 million in damages, which more than made up for the money he’d lost to Linda in their divorce. But court victories aren’t the only way Hulk has been bringing in money.
Hulk and Nick Have Been Inseparable
Crazy enough, Hulk has actually been teaming up with Nick a lot lately. Hulk owns a Florida beach shop, where he sells merchandise and co-hosts parties and events with Nick, who also works as a DJ. I guess Nick didn’t totally follow in his dad’s footsteps, but they seem pretty inseparable now.
Other than hosting events and working as a DJ, Nick has kept himself busy over the years in ways you might not expect. Nick has had a few different relationships over the years, but his most recent romance is with Tana Lea, who works in the adult entertainment industry.
Not that long ago, Nick got into an argument online with Tyga over some flirty DMs that the rapper had allegedly sent Tana. I think it’s safe to say that Brooke has managed to avoid drama a little more than the rest of her famous family. You’re never going to believe everything she’s been up to since Hogan Knows Best ended.
Brooke Hogan Ended Up Reinventing Herself
The year after her family’s reality show was canceled, Brooke was given her own spinoff, Brooke Knows Best. The show featured Brooke living apart from her family in Miami, where she and two friends navigated their dreams. But because the spinoff wasn’t as successful as the original series, it only lasted for two seasons.
After that, Brooke continued to pursue her music career, which actually led to a pretty bizarre life change. Brooke now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, partially because she’s still focused on her music career. But as I’m sure you might know already, Brooke didn’t just stick to singing.
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She dabbled in acting, and even hosted a modeling show that streamed on Amazon Prime. Brooke also stepped into the wrestling world just like her dad, who by the way, she did end up forgiving for having an affair with her friend.
But her newest business venture is one of her most exciting life updates, and it’s definitely not something that I would have predicted.
Brooke owns BB Designs by Brooke, which is a Nashville-based company specializing in interior design and home improvements. It heavily focuses on renovating AirBnB rentals, and Brooke’s longtime friend Ashley Menendez helps with the business management.
I feel like Brooke has made it clear that she can basically work in any profession at this point, but she hasn’t had the same luck in her dating life. This is honestly kind of crazy. Ever since Brooke and football player Phil Costa ended their engagement in 2013, she’s kept her love life pretty private.
It’s hard to say if she’s had any serious relationships since then, because she’s seemingly so focused on the rest of her life. Even though some members of Brooke’s family have stayed more private than others, one thing is clear. They’ve all managed to stay busy in different ways ever since Hogan Knows Best ended.
