Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson recalls rough childhood in Hawaii

Dwayne Johnson’s new project hits close to home.

And it has nothing to do with wrestling John Cena in the ring.

“Rock and a Hard Place,” which he produced, is inspired by his own experiences as a youth on the wrong side of the law.

The documentary, premiering on HBO March 27, follows a group of kids at the Miami-Dade County Corrections & Rehabilitation Department Boot Camp Program, a 16-week alternative to prison.

Before he was a defensive lineman for UM, pro wrestler and movie star, Johnson was a rebellious teen growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was arrested a handful of times by the time he was 17.

He told Muscle & Fitness magazine in a September 2014 interview, “At 14 is when I started training. At 14 is when I also started getting arrested — for fighting, theft, all kinds of stupid [$#@&] that I shouldn’t have been doing.”

Shot vérité style, “Hard Place” gives viewers a look into the local boot camp, which is reportedly so harsh that it reports a recidivism rate of less than 15 percent ( the national rate of prison recidivism is approximately 70 percent).

Johnson now lives in Southwest Ranches with his girlfriend and baby daughter.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson recalls rough childhood in Hawaii."