John Cena Details How He Convinced His Mom to Accept Secret Home

John Cena opened up about one of the most personal surprises of his life, detailing how he secretly built a house for his mother and then had to talk her into actually living in it.

Appearing on Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Cena explained that he bought land in his hometown of West Newbury, Massachusetts, during the 2008 financial crisis, when a rare parcel became available. Since land rarely goes up for sale in the area, Cena moved quickly, enlisting his brother Dan, a contractor, to build the home. To keep the project under wraps, Cena told his family the house was for himself in case he ever moved back.

The secret held for two years. Cena eventually invited his family to Thanksgiving at the finished property and gave his mother, Carol, what she thought was a birthday present — which turned out to be the key to her new home.

Carol’s reaction wasn’t what Cena expected. She initially refused the gift outright. “My mom doesn’t like that, but she wanted to come see the whole house,” Cena said. “When everybody gets in the bar room, I give my mom a birthday present, and it’s the key to the house, and she, like, lost it. She’s like, ‘I can’t, I can’t.’ I’m like, ‘No, it’s already taken care of. Movers are coming tomorrow.’”

Cena said his mother had been perfectly happy living alone in a small third-floor attic apartment. “My mom was living on the third floor of like a triple family in an attic in 300 square feet with her stuff packed in. And she was just by herself, packed in, and she was content and happy. That’s who my mom is. She’s a lunch-pail blue collar, like she’d go to work.”

Realizing persuasion alone wouldn’t work, Cena said he had to shift his approach. “I had to negotiate. I had to be a diplomat,” he explained. “I’m like, ‘You don’t understand. There’ll be trucks there tomorrow. Everyone’s on board. We’re going to move your stuff over. I’ll tell you what, it’s already here. This isn’t for me. Could you please at least give it a try so all this doesn’t go to waste?’”

That argument finally got through. “She was like, ‘Well, if it’s going to waste,’” Cena recalled.

According to Cena, the plan worked out exactly as he’d hoped. Fifteen years later, his mother still lives in the home, and the family now gathers there for holidays. “Now it’s her place, and we get together there on holidays, and it’s her place,” he said. “She earned it. She absolutely earned it.”