Brooke Hogan Details Years of Family Estrangement Following Hulk Hogan's Death

Brooke described her experience of the reality show as feeling like “The Truman Show,” saying that when filming stopped, “the masks stayed on.”
Brooke’s family was absent from her 2022 wedding to Steven Oleksy and from the arrival of their twins in 2025, according to her account.
Brooke did not attend Hulk Hogan’s funeral and asked to be removed from his will.
Brooke is channeling her experiences into music: her single “Goes Around” was scheduled for release on Sept. 25, 2026.
Brooke Hogan is breaking her silence about the deep family rifts behind the cheerful facade of "Hogan Knows Best." She says the 2008 affair between her father, Hulk Hogan, and one of her close friends fractured their relationship permanently, though she continued to love him until his death in 2025 E! Online. Brooke has remained estranged from her mother, Linda, and brother, Nick, and is now speaking out to correct what she sees as misrepresentations of her experience and family bonds.
Despite the pain, Brooke says her childhood held genuine love alongside the tension. She describes the reality show as feeling like "The Truman Show"—when cameras stopped rolling, the masks stayed on E! Online. Her family was absent from her 2022 wedding and the 2025 birth of her twins with Steven Oleksy, according to her account.
In 2008, Hulk Hogan had an affair with Christiane Plante, one of Brooke's close friends Ringside News. The infidelity happened while he was still married to Linda Hogan and became a major turning point in Brooke's relationship with her father Entertainment Weekly. Brooke has stated their bond was never the same after this betrayal.
Though Brooke and Hulk Hogan eventually maintained an underlying connection, the wound never fully healed E! Online. She continued to love him despite the damage, but the breach of trust between them remained. Brooke is now speaking publicly about how this single event reshaped their entire family dynamic.
"Hogan Knows Best" presented the family as loving and close-knit, but Brooke says the show concealed deep pressure and ongoing conflict. She describes the experience as suffocating, where performing for cameras became routine even when the show ended E! Online. The masks, she says, never truly came off—they simply stayed in place after filming wrapped.
Behind the scenes, Brooke felt the weight of maintaining a false image while her family fractured E! Online. The show ran from 2005 to 2009 and helped make the Hogans household names, but it also locked them into a public role that masked their real struggles. Brooke is now reclaiming her narrative by speaking truthfully about what that experience cost her.
Brooke did not attend her father's funeral and requested to be removed from his will E! Online. She has also disputed public claims that she and her brother, Nick, have reconciled, saying those accounts misrepresent her current relationships. Despite her grief over Hulk Hogan's passing, Brooke chose distance to protect her boundaries.
Today, Brooke is focused on her own life and family with her two young children. She is channeling her pain into music—her single "Goes Around" is scheduled for release on September 25, 2026 E! Online. She continues to prioritize peace and healthy boundaries while publicly recounting her truth about the family she was born into.
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