It’s not that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has been hiding away from the public eye. While the actor and professional wrestler’s socials have been abuzz with appearances, workouts and consistent uploads, his IRL appearance at the currently ongoing Venice Film Festival, for the premiere of his film The Smashing Machine, also starring Emily Blunt, has seriously thrown fans and well wishers off balance.

You don’t even need to be a fan of The Rock to know that the word ‘small’ doesn’t belong in the same sentence as his name. Yet, that was all anybody saw during his Venice appearance. While he looked dapper in a beige-grey suit for the premiere itself, visuals of him, casually dressed, off the red carpet, had his fans in a bind.

A casual periwinkle button down and lose fit tailored pants actually captured how much ‘smaller’ The Rock has become. Media reports peg his weight and muscle loss somewhere around 60 pounds leaving the 53-year-old’s weight somewhere around 240lbs, significantly lesser than his standard 300lbs. While some attribute this drastic change to him playing MMA fighter and UFC pioneer Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, others believe it was high time for him to start winding down on the intensity of his bodybuilding, given the fact that maintenance at his age would prove to be a problem.

Reactions from fans carried quite the range: “Its called stoppin the roids”, “He still looks good honestly”, “It’s probably really good for him!! Dude has been gigantic forever”, “My boy is getting older😢”, “The Rock turned into a pebble” and “It’s called aging..relax” read a few comments.

Some fans also speculated if The Rock dropping weight and muscle is potentially because of a rumoured artery condition, though this narrative was trumped during a sit-down interview with his physician Dr. Mark Hayman on The Dr. Hayman Show.

What do you think about The Rock’s new avatar?