Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has revealed how he managed to genuinely surprise Adele at the Grammys.
During Sunday (5 February) night’s award ceremony, the “Easy on Me” singer was left speechless when host Trevor Noah brought out Johnson, who greeted her with a warm embrace.
“This is one of the strangest things I found out,” Noah said in his opening monologue. “The person that Adele has always wanted to meet, but never has, is Dwayne Johnson… I found out he’s a huge fan of yours, too.”
Speaking with Variety after the ceremony, Johnson shared that “we wanted to do something special for Adele”.
“I know that she is a very big fan of mine and has made that clear publicly many times. But I’ve got to tell you, I am a huge fan of hers, as well – her music, her journey, her openness and directness in how she speaks. I’ve always admired that about her,” the Black Adam actor said.
Once he confirmed his attendance, Grammys executive producer Ben Winston approached Johnson with the idea of surprising the wrestler-turned-movie star’s superfan Adele at the beginning of the show.
“We were trying to figure out something to do that was going to be fun and surprise her, and we had kicked around ideas all week,” Johnson explained.
“The key to a surprise like that is to actually keep it a surprise. Myself and the Grammys went to great lengths to make sure that Adele was authentically surprised in the moment, and she was.
“It was just a great surprise and I was able to chat with her a little bit and her boyfriend, Rich Paul,” he continued.
“And talk about the universe meeting our friendship halfway: I get up onstage and I open that Grammy envelope and it said ‘Adele.’ So that’s why I was able to say, ‘Get up here best friend, Adele!’”
Johnson presented Adele with her award for Best Pop Solo Performance.
“I love that woman. We had a really great time tonight. I think probably the best part about it is she’s just cool – and I had never met her before,” the actor raved.
Find the full list of Grammy winners here, as well as the six biggest highlights of the evening here.
