Almost four years since filing for a divorce from retired wrestler Hulk Hogan, his former wife Linda is dishing her side of the story in the tumultuous tell-all book, “Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes.”

Among the many shocking allegations and revelations in the book are claims that she spent years in an “abusive relationship” and that her former husband was hooked on drugs.

“From the very onset of our marriage, he took a lot of steroids; he was always on drugs, recreational drugs. He had all kinds of stuff he was doing, along with all of the other wrestlers. Combine that with the huge ego that goes along with being famous,” Linda told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column while promoting the new book. “On top of all of this, my ex-husband was a fighter, and he was a sore loser, so (imagine) going up against somebody that’s like that, 330 pounds, full of rage of testosterone, when they get angry.”


Linda also alleged that at times she feared the WWE champ would go so far as to take her life.

“I had a little bit of shoving; sometimes he’d squeeze my arm or squeeze my face really hard when he was talking to me, or shove me onto the bed. I just tolerated that, but as the years went on it got worse. Broken lamps, hair pulled out, furniture broken, he threw the dog off the bed,” she said.

“It scared me that he might just snap, not realize what he’s doing, he is just so strong. I thought he could kill me. He had his hands around my neck one time on the bed and he started squeezing my throat. He just went into this trance and I looking at him and saying, ‘Terry, stop, stop. I can’t breathe.’

“And it was like, all of the sudden, when he lifted his hand off of my throat, it was like something came over him and came back down to earth. But meanwhile, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is how I’m going to die.’ At that point, I just knew I couldn’t let myself ever get in that situation again. It was too close.”

It took the now 51-year-old a long time to bow out of the marriage she claimed was troubled very early on.

“I tolerated my ex-husband’s infidelity for way too long; you have to live with the lies, the cheating, and the hidden agenda. They’re not going to tell you they’re having an affair, so you don’t know why your marriage is falling apart,” she said. “The first time that I realized (the infidelity) it was ten years into the marriage. Sadly enough, I forgave him and thought maybe we’d have a second chance at it and he would never do that again. He apologized. I trusted his word, believing everything he said, but I shouldn’t have.”

Having now poured her heart out on paper, Linda says she hopes she can be something of a role model to other women stuck in abusive relationships dominated by infidelity.

“Women tend to take all the blame (when things go wrong) and think, ‘maybe I should have lost weight or I should have been skinnier or prettier or smarter.’ He was an American icon, he was huge and famous and look, it happened to me when I was 50 and we had been married 24 years,” she said.

But she insists that now she is doing much better.

“I’m not crying in my soup, I’ve moved on. It’s not worth shedding one more tear for – I don’t feel sorry for myself anymore. I feel sorry for him. He has got to live with the choices at look at himself in the mirror everyday and realize that he’s the one that has lost out.”

On the subject of moving on, Linda couldn’t be more in love with her young boyfriend Charlie, who she met on the beach when he was only 19.

And despite a very public divorce, Linda tells Tarts that she isn’t opposed to walking-down-the-aisle again.

“I’m in pretty good hands with Charlie. Even though he’s young, we have a great relationship. He’s my soul mate and I love having an actual partner that I can communicate with and physically have someone there for me,” she told us.

A rep for Hulk Hogan declined to comment on Linda’s book and subsequent accusations.

But Hogan has made his own accusations against his ex-wife. In 2009 the wrestling champ-turned-reality star got his word out in his own autobiography “My Life Outside the Ring,” and claimed she was an alcoholic who was abusive to their children.

Linda has since denied the accusations.

“My marriage to Linda was very toxic and very negative. Jennifer (his then girlfriend, now wife) is just the opposite, she doesn’t drink or get high on drugs,” Hulk told Pop Tarts in an exclusive interview promoting the book shortly after its release. “If you’re in my home and watching TV, you have to watch the science channel or the history channel or cartoons. She doesn’t watch anything negative like the news or TMZ. She doesn’t read the newspaper. She always walks in the Spirit of Christ, she never deviates.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/07/19/linda-hogans-shocking-allegations-was-afraid-drug-addicted-hulk-would-kill-me/#ixzz1SbUVYvxw

I think there is some exxageration to this but this has been talked about by A LOT of people who know "Hulk". His drug use and extramarital affairs were the biggest "Open Secret" in Wrestling, especially with his good guy, Hero image.

This does back up the claims that the Ultimate Warrior mad eon You Tube recently. Check them out.

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/304256

did you watch raw last night? they fired vince...lol

Nope, that's just a storyline though.

yea,lol.. i've watching it since i was a kid... HHH is taking his place... vince was going to fire cena, and HHH came down and fired vince instead...

HHH is his son in law and Heir to the throne since Shance left and wants nothing to do with the business.

I am still waiting for them to open the WWE Hotel, Casino and Resort in Las Vegas. The bought the property years ago and it's been in limbo ever since.

If you've been watching it for years, did you ever hear about the Plane Ride From Hell?

Do you watch TNA?

sometimes, when i remember it's on... i'm not a big eric bishoff, hulk hogan, or jeff jarett fan anyway...

Since you like RAW you will like this true story(it is also why several Wrestlers left the WWE or were fired unexpectedly)

This infamous incident took place on a chartered flight which took place as the RAW crew flew back to the US after the 2002 Insurrextion PPV in the UK. In wrestling circles it became known as the a Plane Ride from Hell.

Lets take a look what happened:

Now bearing in mind Jim Ross, president of talent relations was onboard to uphold the law, along with road agents Arn Anderson, Dave Finley, Gerry Briscoe, Michael Hayes, locker room leader the Undertaker was present, along with senior writers Stephanie Mcmahon and Paul Heyman...... so you'd think the crew would behave themselves right???
WRONG!

Many of the guys were having a good time drinking onboard until some got completey sloshed and things really got out of hand:
Bradshaw got into a tiff with michael hayes, who had reportedly been in a grumpy mood the whole tour... it turned physical, and ever the bully, Bradshaw floored the former freebird... but it didn't end there! a couple of wrestlers decided to teach Hayes a lesson by cutting his hair whilst he slept. Not surprisingly Sean 'X-Pac' Waltman did the honours. Hayes awoke to find his new shorter hair-do and went ballistic! With Kevin nash not on tour with injury, and scott hall semi-conscious after drinking a skinfull, Waltman didn't have a lot of backup, but somehow managed to avoid a beating. (Hayes mullet and a picture of him getting shaved was stapled to the wall at the next RAW taping! and Hayes blew another fuse).

Of course the lunacy didn't end there! Ric Flair was stumbling around drunk in his robe (with no pants underneath, completely naked) like he often did when partying in his NWA heyday, and exposed himself to a female flight attendent(which led to a sexual harassment lawsuit against the WWE and hwo this whole incident became public), Dustin 'Goldust' Runnels serenaded his then-wife Terri with gushy lovesongs over the PA system, she was not amused! and after ignoring her pleas to stop she had to complain to Jim Ross who finally put an end to his bad musicals!

Meanwhile Scott Hall(Razor Ramon) and Curt Henning(Mr. Perfect) had been having fun spraying others with shaving cream... until the intoxicated Hall passed out. Henning got into an argument with Brock Lesnar over their shooting skills which turned into a full on fight... taking Triple H, Paul Heyman and several other Wrestlers(including the Undertaker, who got hit by Lesnar leading to their real life feud) to intervene to get it broken up... the group fell dangerously close to the plane door during the scuffle.

Despite the presence of senior WWE personnel onboard, many wrestlers totally lost control. Even the Undertaker... the so-called locker room leader, the man who commands so much backstage respect.. did virtually nothing to maintain order until the end when he helped break up Henning and Lesnar.

As a consequene Curt Henning was released from his contract, as was scott hall, who was so docile on the trip that people had to check his pulse to see if he was still alive! Others received warnings for their misbehavior and the WWE had a huge black eye on its reputation. JR was quick to announce that WWE would no longer serve alcohol on overseas flights!

I never liked Jarrett in the WWE, but he did start TNA Wrestling with his dad and another friend of his. The guy is a genious. I do like Bischoff and Hogan, together those guys know how to make money. I like how they now have creative control over TNA.

I also liked Hogans Hulkamania World Tour he just had. I know he was planning on starting his own Wrestling promotion, I don't know if he was talking about the Hulkamania World Tour or if maybe he is trying to buy TNA.

how nice it would have been to be the pilot on that flight... that must have been when hall and nash went to wcw, with hulk...

No this was LONG after that. That was like 2004ish.

yea, your right

On May 5, 2002 a number of WWE wrestlers and management members flew from Great Britain to the United States following the end of a European tour, which concluded with a British PPV event.

They wen't to WCW in like 98 I believe. WCW was bought out in 2001 by WWE. This was in 2002 I believe because Lesnar wasn't in the WWE in the 90's I don't think.

And Henning died shortly after this.

Also I can't believe Scott Hall is still alive. He should have full blown liver failure by now. His recent interviews don't look good and he has only been given months to live.

X-Pac was also just diagnosed with Hep.

God I miss the good old days of Wrestling, they will never be back. Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect, Andre the Giant, The Ultimate Warrior, The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, the Big Boss Man, Crush, the Repo Man, Papa Shango, Junk Yard Dog, Bush Wackers, Legion of Doom, Money Inc., Natural Disasters, Roddy Piper, Brutis the Barber Beefcake, Sensational Sherri, Miss Elizabeth the list goes on and on.

This stuff lost all its luster and comedic value when Steve Austin and the Rock left or were fired.

They're both back now! Besides TNA is awesome, you hsould check it out.

Not to mention the Diva's on TNA are so much hotter, even ODB(who is made to look trashy) is hott as hell!

The Rock and Austin are back wrasslin'? What day does it come on?

it was about a month ago... stone cold did the latest "tough enough", and cena and the rock are headlining the next wrestlemainia