Posted By James Walsh on 05/27/26


Brooke Hogan appeared on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show on April 23, 2026 for one of her most comprehensive public statements yet about her father Hulk Hogan's death, the handling of his autopsy, what she alleges has been withheld from her, the estate situation, and the Netflix documentary. Hulk Hogan, whose real name was Terry Gene Bollea, died on July 24, 2025 at the age of 71. His death was ruled natural causes. Brooke was joined by Bubba the Love Sponge and by a medical malpractice attorney named Jay who said he has practiced for 30 years.
⠀
On changes still being made to the autopsy months after her father's death: "Why are we making changes to an autopsy after the guy's been dead for ten, eleven months? It's almost like I've got every single thing like a game of Clue, and I'm missing the candlestick and Colonel Mustard. Every sign points to, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck. And it's like I just don't have the duck." Bubba responded: "And they're playing hide the duck with you to the tenth degree."
⠀
Brooke says a private family doctor, not a medical examiner or coroner, signed off on the time of death and performed the autopsy. She says this was not accidental. "The premeditated, already knowing to call the private doctor down to sign his time of death versus the guy that's on duty in the ER who would normally do it. If there's nothing to hide, there's nothing to hide. But instead, let's call this guy and have him come down and sign it. And what's crazy about that is, if that doctor allegedly gave him anything, by him signing off and saying it was a natural death, well, that closes the case. We all wipe our hands and it goes away. There's no investigation."
⠀
The nurse who was the only other person present when Hogan died has disappeared, Brooke says. "The nurse had been sent to go do something. And coincidentally, while he's gone, my dad just passes. And Sky was the one to notice that he stops breathing. You can't get a hold of him. Nobody can get a hold of this guy that was there." Sky Daily is Hogan's widow, whom he married in September 2023.
⠀
Brooke says the case has been reopened, and she explained exactly why that matters: "When an investigation is closed, you can get the information via the Freedom of Information Act. But when a case stays open, nobody can access anything." Her message to anyone who says the handling is above board: "If it's so on the up and up, shut me up. Just show it to me."
⠀
The attorney who attended the interview said the circumstances are unlike anything he has encountered in his career. "I've done medical malpractice for 30 years. I've never heard of a situation like that one. I've never heard of a situation where the doctor whose patient died came in and did the time of death. The doctor whose patient died came in and did the autopsy. I've never in my entire life heard of that. And I've reviewed thousands and thousands." He said he personally contacted the medical examiner and argued there was a public interest basis for an independent examination, citing the Michael Jackson, Joan Rivers, and Matthew Perry cases. He was told it was natural circumstances and that nothing suspicious had occurred.
⠀
Bubba the Love Sponge stated his personal opinion that Scientology had a hand in Hogan's death and in the obstruction of the autopsy results, prefacing it explicitly as his own view. He also stated he has stayed quiet about information he possesses: "Look at all the things that to this day I've stayed quiet about that I could burn the entire empire down with. There are a couple of gimmicks that went down that, oh my god, there might be some people go to prison over it. But I've never said a word." Brooke echoed this position from her own perspective: "I'm still protecting people that hurt me or that threw me under the bus. Morally, some of the stuff that you and I know is so vile or so bad or so personal that it would absolutely shock people to the point where it would rock their whole reality. It's something I'm taking to my grave."
⠀
On the Netflix documentary: Brooke called it "a great showpiece" but said it did not dive into anything deep. "It's almost like Men in Black. They shocked everybody and made them forget about every single scandal and every single thing that went on. All the people that suffered at the hands of that sex tape and the N word. Yes, some parts of him he was a really great guy. But we didn't touch on what made him human and what affected the most important people in his life, and why he ended up with three wives and not talking to his daughter, and scandals. It's just amazing how people forget so quickly." She said her grandfather Pete and herself were the two most unfairly handled by omission. Bubba agreed and added that Jennifer McDaniel, Hogan's third wife, was another major omission. "She was an amazing woman, she was an amazing wife, just an amazing person, not a mean-spirited bone in her body. She completely glossed over in the doc." Brooke said her relationship with her father was at its best during the Jennifer McDaniel years: "She kept him in good spirits. My dad was that kind of guy that would fall into depression or kind of looking into the past. And she was always the one to be like, 'Baby, it's a new day. We're so lucky to have woken up this morning.' She'd always remind him of what good we had in our lives and really kept him afloat."
⠀
On the estate: Brooke says her father had placed her in a co-executor position alongside Terry McCoy. She voluntarily stepped aside and handed the role to her brother Nick. "My dad had me right in that position as head honcho, right next to Terry McCoy. Nick was not on anything. I texted Nick and said, Nick, I'm putting you in the position I was in. I trust you. I hope you'll do the right thing. And he's like, don't worry, Brooke, I'll take care of you. The whole song and dance. And he just kind of disappeared." What she received from the estate: used flip flops, an old cross, and a couple of old t-shirts she does not remember her father wearing. Meanwhile a single Hulk Hogan WrestleMania 18 boot, from his match against The Rock in Toronto in 2002, sold for $236,000 on eBay. Brooke says she called a longtime Hogan associate named Ronnie and asked if he had any of her father's memorabilia she could buy as a fan. "Ronnie said, Nick has it all. I can't get a belt, I can't get anything. And I wouldn't sell it either. I would never sell anything of my dad's. And I told my dad that too." The only original item she now has is a workout shirt Ronnie found in a drawer and mailed to her.
⠀
She also noted that Nick apparently did not directly extend a WrestleMania invitation to her or her husband, despite being told by Nick Kahn that one had been extended through her brother. She was also recovering from a C-section after having twins when her father was hospitalized and died, during which time she was sending medical notes to Nick from home.
⠀
Bubba closed Brooke's segment by recalling the phrase Hogan used most often with him during their years of friendship: "Your dad, this is one of his most infamous things. He would say, the only easy day was yesterday. And that has lived with me forever."
⠀
Brooke said she had never heard it as a child.
⠀
The full interview aired on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show on April 23, 2026 and is available on his YouTube channel.