Logan Paul has explained why he is no longer on speaking terms with his idol, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.
YouTuber Paul, 27, forged a close friendship with Johnson after collaborating with the WWE icon following the launch of his official YouTube channel in 2016.
The pair appeared in several videos together with Paul describing Johnson as his "hero".
But Johnson abruptly cut ties with Paul in 2017 after the YouTuber received a huge backlash over a controversial video which he filmed in Aokigahara, a forest near the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan known as the "suicide forest".
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The video, which has since been deleted, included several scenes of Paul and his friends standing around a dead body, with the American laughing at one point.
Paul later apologised for his behaviour, but Johnson cut ties with him completely - requesting for all of their shared content to be permanently deleted.
"[I was] extremely low mentally, and I got a call from my publicist who also repped and she's like, 'Hey, Dwayne's asked that you remove every picture and video that you've done with him and maybe in the future the relationship can be reconciled but for now he basically wants nothing to do with you', which I also understood," Paul told the True Geordie Podcast.
"I get it. You know, I made a grotesque error and he has had things happen in his life where like a lot of people that incident affected him in a personal way.
"So I understood it and that was the other part... you sleep in the bed you make, right?"
Paul described it as one of the "saddest moments" of his life and says it particularly hurt because he thought that he had an "open line of communication" with Johnson.
"I just wish I'd gotten like a call or a text or something because I thought we had a healthy relationship, an open line of communication. And I was so sad that my hero wanted nothing to do with me," added Paul.
"And I was sad because I understood it, I really f***ed up.
"I was so disappointed in myself, and so I vowed to get better, I vowed to change, time passed, I start doing well... I just wanted to be able to build a relationship with Dwayne."
Paul went on to reveal that he has since received a supportive message from Johnson through Instagram but opted not to reply, despite still viewing the wrestler-turned-actor as "f***ing awesome person".
"I don't know what to say. I'm still stuck," added Paul.
SPORTbible has reached out to Johnson's representatives for a comment.
Topics: WWE, The Rock, Logan Paul
Rory O'Callaghan