Washington DC [US], November 9 (ANI): Actor Dwayne Johnson has shared how his 2007 divorce from ex-wife Dany Garcia impacted his mental health and influenced his choice of acting roles, E! News reported.

Speaking on a recent episode of The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, Johnson reflected on the emotional challenges he faced following the end of his 16-year marriage, particularly regarding co-parenting their daughter, Simone, now 24.

'When you guys get married, as a few of you may know, you sign up for the long haul, but then it doesn't always work out like that,' Johnson said. 'And then it rocks you like it rocked me. And we had a baby, and what kind of father was I going to be?,' as quoted by E! News.

He admitted that the period led to struggles with depression, prompting him to pursue lighter, family-oriented roles in films such as The Game Plan and Tooth Fairy. 'I was trying to figure my stuff out, and that was the only thing that I really wanted to do artistically,' Johnson said. 'I didn't want anything that was going to challenge me to rip my guts out; I wanted stuff that has a happy ending.'

Johnson emphasised that despite the circumstances, he enjoyed these roles. 'I loved making those movies. I also think I manifested those because I don't think I was ready for anything other than easy, light, family films that made me feel good,' he added.

While the divorce was difficult, Johnson and Garcia maintained a positive co-parenting relationship and built a successful professional partnership through their production company, Seven Bucks Productions. 'While marriage wasn't in our cards, we did realise, 'Well, wait a second, we're building something that's pretty cool,'' he said. ''Marriage may not be in our cards, but building a business can be.' And that took time,' E! News reported. (ANI)