The dinosaur head appeared behind "The Rock'' in a recent interview, leading some to wonder if he was the mystery bidder who shelled out $31 million for a T. rex skeleton at an auction in 2020.
Did Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson pay $31 million for a historic Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton?
The mystery was sparked when the actor and former pro-wrestler was being interviewed by Eli Manning, who noticed something intriguing in the background.
“You've got a T. rex behind you? What is that? A dinosaur?” the former NFL quarterback asked.
“I got a T. rex skull, yeah. That's Stan. As a matter of fact, Stan is the most complete T. rex skull ever found by a young paleontologist, and his name was Stan, so this T. rex head was named after him,” Johnson said.
Instantly, dinosaur mavens began to wonder if The Rock’s beast is actually a 67-million-year-old T. rex that was sold at auction in 2020. It, too, was named Stan, after the paleontologist who discovered him in South Dakota.
The auction house, Christie's, has never identified the anonymous bidder who paid all those millions for Stan in 2020. It could belong to The Rock, however, replicas of T. rex skulls are not uncommon.
There’s one at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. Or you can buy one online for a more modest sum of $11,500.
The Rock’s rep declined to comment.
