Dwayne Johnson says he regrets making his feud with Vin Diesel public, but stands by his comments: 'I meant what I said'

• Dwayne Johnson spoke about his on-set disagreements with "Fast and Furious" franchise star Vin Diesel.
• Johnson said that he regrets making their feud public in 2016, but stands by his criticism of Diesel.

Dwayne Johnson said that he regrets making his feud with "Fast and Furious" franchise costar Vin Diesel public back in 2016, but stands by his comments.

"I shouldn't have shared that," Johnson said in his November 2021 cover story for Vanity Fair. "Because at the end of the day, that goes against my DNA. I don't share things like that. And I take care of that kind of bullshit away from the public. They don't need to know that."

"Nothing specific happened, just the same old shit," he said when asked about what prompted him to speak out. "And that just wasn't my best day."

The wrestler-turned-actor said that disclosing the drama to his millions of followers on social media wasn't a wise decision, and it resulted in a "firestorm."

"I meant what I said. For sure," Johnson said. "I mean what I say when I say it. But to express it publicly was not the right thing to do."

Johnson joined the "Fast and Furious" movies as Agent Luke Hobbs in 2011's "Fast Five," which was released 10 years after the first installment hit theaters and spawned a franchise led by Diesel (Dominic Toretto).

During Johnson's final week of filming "The Fate of the Furious" in August 2016, the actor called out his male costars for being "candy asses," an unflattering term that he's used since his wrestling days.

"My female costars are always amazing and I love 'em," the actor wrote in a since-deleted post shared on his Facebook and Instagram accounts. "My male costars however are a different story. Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't. The ones that don't are too chicken sh*t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses."

Speaking to Vanity Fair, the "Jungle Cruise" star said that he only agreed to be in "The Fate of the Furious" as long as he and Diesel didn't share any scenes together.

"I wanted to forgo drama," Johnson said. "I thought that that was the best thing to do. For everybody."

Johnson previously told Rolling Stone that he and Diesel "had a few discussions, including an important face-to-face in my trailer" after clashing on set.

"What I came to realize is that we have a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach moviemaking and collaborating," he said.

Johnson shared similar comments about the meeting during his interview with Vanity Fair, saying, "I wouldn't call it a peaceful meeting. I would call it a meeting of clarity."

Diesel has also spoken out about their dynamic, telling Men's Health earlier this year that he gave Johnson "tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be."

"That's something that I'm proud of, that aesthetic," Diesel said. "That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Fellini-esque, but I would do anything I'd have to do in order to get performances in anything I'm producing."

In response, Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter that he "laughed hard" when he learned of Diesel's comments.