A Hollywood superstar endured a frightening and potentially deadly experience over the weekend but emerged from it unharmed, albeit with a new perspective on life and a better appreciation of what truly is and isn't important.

Former WWE wrestler turned actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson revealed that his private jet was forced to abort a flight from Hawaii to Texas after the aircraft suffered a serious "mechanical issue," the Daily Mail reported.

Johnson had been traveling from his home in Hawaii to Houston, Texas, for the season-launching kick-off game of the United Football League, of which he is a co-owner, when his plane was forced to turn around and return to the islands.

Johnson shares reason why he was absent from UFL's kick-off game

In a video posted to his social media accounts on Friday, Johnson expressed his deep disappointment at not being in Houston at that moment for the first UFL game of the league's second season, and he apologized profusely for his absence to the league's fans, players, coaches, staffers, and others.

"Right now, this very moment, I was going to be on the field in Houston, Texas, hyping up the crowd, getting them ready with electricity and mana and energy as we kicked off our UFL, our United Football League, season number two, live on Fox," Johnson said.

"I was ready to go. Man, I was super pumped to get down there to Texas, to rock and roll with all the fans and the players and the coaches," he continued. "I’m just so super bummed that I can’t be there and I’m so sorry."

What happened?

"Last night, we had some issues with the plane," Johnson said of his $65 million Gulfstream G650 private jet, per the Daily Mail. "About 35-40 minutes into the flight, the pilot comes back to me, he gets down on one knee, and he is face-to-face with me. It’s just me on the plane. Just me and the crew."

"And he says, 'Mr. Johnson, I’m sorry to inform you, but we cannot continue to fly over the ocean. We have a problem. We have to turn the plane around, and we have to land back in Hawaii. You have my word, I will land you back safely on the island,'" the actor continued.

Johnson said he appreciated the pilot's "demeanor in that moment" and his explanation of what had gone wrong, and revealed, "He said it was a hydraulics issue with overheating. He said there are some issue we can work out as we are in the air, and then there’s some that we are not going to take a chance, especially over the ocean, and especially when the computer of the airplane is saying don’t fly anymore over the ocean, you gotta get back to land."

A new appreciation for what really matters in life

Johnson said he took the incident as "a sign from God and the universe," and likened the frightening experience to encountering turbulence so especially severe that some might wonder to themselves, "Is this it? Is this how I check out?"

However, he was reassured by the direct conversation with the pilot as well as the thoughtfulness of the flight attendant, who made him a "double" drink to help calm his nerves.

"When you are back there alone with just your drink, and you are thinking about this, and you’ve got everything crossed hoping you make it back safely, you start to realize really quickly the s--t that is really important in life," Johnson said. "Then you realize the s--t that doesn’t matter that you've been thinking about and worrying about. Anyway, I had one of those moments last night."

Johnson "grateful" he survived the scary incident

"Bottom line is: I’m grateful to be back on the ground. I’m grateful to be back home in Hawaii. Super-bummed I can’t be there in Texas," Johnson added as he reiterated his apologies and encouragement to the UFL and its fans, players, and coaches.

According to CNN, Johnson became a co-owner of the UFL in 2023 when the minor league XFL that he already owned merged with the U.S. Football League, another minor league entity, to form the UFL, which now serves as a home for professional football players who are either rising stars or past their prime and are not quite at the necessarily high level to play in the NFL.