Brooke Hogan Mourns Hulk Hogan at the Beach: ‘Every Wave Hit My Heart’

Grief doesn’t follow a timeline, and Brooke Hogan is letting hers take her to the water.

The 38-year-old daughter of the late WWE legend Hulk Hogan shared a raw, deeply personal Instagram post this week — a sun-drenched bikini photo taken at the beach, surrounded by throwback images of her father enjoying the ocean he so clearly loved. One photo showed Hulk grinning behind the wheel of a boat, hand raised. Another captured him at a BBQ grill at sunset. There was even a playful clip of him counting down backward to zero, timing it perfectly as a fiery red sun slipped below the horizon.

But it was the words that hit hardest.

“Needed some time with my thoughts, my daddy and the ocean he loved so much,” Brooke wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, May 20. “Every wave hit my heart like a memory that felt like it was yesterday. The waves carried the bass in his voice, the salt water felt like his hugs. The smell of the ocean smelled like so many days on the boat we spent together.”

She continued: “I remember him whisking me across the surf like King Triton holding his Little Mermaid… if I could breathe underwater, I’d spend forever under the sea if it meant being that much closer to him. The tears were endless today. 🌊”

Brooke — photographed lying on the shore in a cheeky neon-yellow bikini, relaxed but clearly carrying something heavy — paired the post with those throwback moments of her dad, including a beach shot with one of his grandchildren. For fans who follow her closely, it read less like a photo dump and more like a pilgrimage.

A Complicated Goodbye

Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack in July 2025 at the age of 71. Medical documents obtained by Us Weekly revealed he had a history of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. His death came after a period of estrangement from Brooke — a rift that had become public knowledge in the years before he passed.

He left Brooke out of his 2023 will, though reports indicate she does receive a small amount through a life insurance trust. Notably, Brooke has said the exclusion was her own choice. “His decision is no surprise to me,” she told TMZ in September 2025. “It’s what I asked for, I stand by it with no regrets. My dad knows I’m a hard worker and I have been surviving without his money for a long, long time.”

The motive, according to reports, was to avoid messy financial entanglements and to create some distance from certain parts of the family dynamic. Hulk had been married four times — to Brooke’s mother Linda Hogan from 1983 to 2009 (they also share son Nick Hogan), then to Jennifer McDaniel from 2010 to 2022, and finally to Sky Daily starting in 2023.

The Song, the Critics, and What She Said Back

Brooke’s grief has been public and, at times, contested. She released a song called “Wanna Go Back” as a tribute to her father, which drew pointed criticism from some fans who felt it was opportunistic given the estrangement. One commenter wrote in December 2025, “So u haven’t talked to him in years but unfortunately when he passes away u wanna do tributes I mean that’s sad stuff.”

Brooke didn’t ignore it. She replied directly: “Sometimes when people pass you find out things that hurt even more. That’s what this song is about.”

It’s a window into something she hasn’t fully opened — the suggestion that whatever distance existed between them came with a painful backstory she’s still processing.

Her husband, former NHL player Steven Oleksy, has been firmly in her corner. The two married in 2022 — a ceremony Brooke kept quiet until 2024 — and welcomed twins Oliver and Molly in 2025. When “Wanna Go Back” dropped, Oleksy posted to his Instagram Story: “This song is so deep. I am so blessed to call you my wife. Your strength could never be measured. I love you!”

Brooke, who first became a household name alongside her dad on Hogan Knows Best before spinning off into her own Brooke Knows Best, has made clear she inherited more than just her father’s camera comfort — she got his love of the ocean too. Last August, she posted a photo holding twins Oliver and Molly on the beach in a white swimsuit, a moment she also framed as a tribute to him.

This week’s post felt like a continuation of that — a daughter standing at the edge of the water, looking for the father she lost in the waves.