Dwayne Johnson was arrested ''eight or nine times'' by the time he was 17 after being involved in a theft ring.

The 'Hercules' star had a tough upbringing in Hawaii during his teenage years and after getting evicted from his apartment aged 14 he turned to crime and used to be part of a group who would target tourists.

When asked what the group were looking for he replied: ''High-end clothes and jewellery. In Waikiki there's a couple high-end blocks where there's your Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Armani, jewellery stores, plenty of jewellery stores.

''There are a lot of tourists that come into Waikiki and there's a lot of money. A lot of foreign money that comes in, and we were part of a theft ring that would target those groups. We would target the money, we would target the high-end clothes and we would target the jewellery - turn around and sell it, best we could.''

While he was in trouble with the law at times, the star turned to muscle-building aged 14 to help him get over the pain of being evicted and admits it helped to a certain extent.

He added to Muscle and Fitness magazine: ''At 14 when I started training, at 14 is when I also started getting arrested--for fighting, theft, all kinds of stupid s**t that I shouldn't have been doing.

''But, I still found time to go to the Boys Club every afternoon to hit the speed bag, hit the heavy bag, hit the iron. I was building my body because again, it's that eviction mentality. But, I would still f**k around, get in trouble and get arrested. I got arrested eight or nine times I think by the time I was 17.''

The 42-year-old star also credits his muscle-building activity for helping him to deal with his depression.

He explained: ''There was never any medication. It was getting off my ass and being active and getting out and training. Releasing a lot of blood, sweat and respect--that was my medication.

''I'm a long way from being evicted, but I'll never forget it. I'll never forget the feeling.

''I'll never forget my mom crying and I'll never forget the thought I had, 'Well the only thing I can do is just go build my body,' because the men who were successful that I knew of Stallone, Arnold, Bruce Willis - they were men of action.''