Dwayne spoke to The Daily Express and shared details about his mother’s attempted suicide when he was 15 years old.
His family had dealt with their fair share of difficulties and at the time had just been evicted from their apartment.
Dwayne said: “She got out of the car on Interstate 65 in Nashville and walked into oncoming traffic.
"Big rigs and cars were swerving out of the way. I grabbed her and pulled her back on the gravel shoulder of the road. What’s crazy about that suicide attempt is that to this day, she has no recollection of it whatsoever.
"Probably best she doesn’t.”
For Dwayne, however, the experience was not as easily forgotten and began to deeply affect him emotionally.
He went through bouts of serious depression of his own and revealed: “I reached a point where I didn’t want to do a thing or go anywhere,” he said. “I was crying constantly.”
He went on to reference several other low points in his life, including his football injury which cost him his football career and his girlfriend breaking him up with him shortly after.
Dwayne said this lead him to his “absolute worst time” dealing with his mental issues.
Dwayne knew he had two options, to either wallow in his self-pity or to pick himself up and turn his life around.
Thankfully for Dwayne he found the inner strength needed. He is now one of the highest-paid and most beloved actors in Hollywood but his past has allowed him to remain humble.
Speaking about both his and his mother's depression he said: “We both healed but we’ve always got to do our best to pay attention when other people are in pain.
"We have to help them through it and remind them they are not alone.”