The WWE star’s daughter said she had to “step away” from him in the last two years before his death on July 24

NEED TO KNOW

Hulk Hogan didn’t take interest in his daughter Brooke’s twins after they were born in January
Brooke’s husband Steven Oleksy tells PEOPLE he reached out to the WWE star shortly after the twins were born, “but there was no interest” from Hulk
Oleksy says his wife was at “every surgery” of Hulk’s “leading up to the last two years” and traveled to be there “on her own dime”

Hulk Hogan never met his daughter Brooke’s twins before his death on July 24, according to his son-in-law Steven Oleksy.

Oleksy, 39, tells PEOPLE that Hulk, who had a strained relationship with Brooke, 37, did not show interest in the couple’s twins Oliver Andrew and Molly Gene after they were born in January.

Oleksy, a former NHL player, had kept in touch with Hulk and other members of Brooke’s family during her estrangement, in case they wanted to repair the relationship. Olesky says he reached out to the late WWE star “about a month and a half after” his twins were born.

“I sent text messages once again to kind of gauge where he was at, but there was no interest.”

Olesky says Brooke’s brother, Nick, said at one point that he would come over to the house with Hulk to meet the twins, but never followed through.

Brooke and Hulk Hogan at Calle Ocho on March 15, 2009 in Miami.John Parra/WireImage

Brooke and her husband met in his home state of Michigan and moved to Florida to be closer to Hulk, especially as he “was getting older,” says Oleksy, who had just retired from the NHL.

“She was there for every surgery leading up to the last two years. She would fly down on her own dime, take care of her dad, and it just made a lot of sense,” says Oleksy, sharing that Brooke “took notes from every doctor” that treated her father.

“No one understood his body, procedures, medications and everything else more than my wife,” he says, but that regardless, their relationship fell apart.

After Hulk’s death, the family will continue residing in Florida, which has grown to feel like “home” to them. “We’ve built a beautiful life here together,” Oleksy tells PEOPLE.

Brooke broke her silence on her father’s death in a lengthy Instagram post on July 29, five days after he died of a heart attack in Clearwater, Florida.

The singer and formerly reality star said she felt it was “necessary to clear a few things up” about her estrangement from her father, noting that it was not a big “fight” or single moment that led to their rift. “It was a series of private phone calls no one will ever hear, know, or understand,” she said.

Brooke and Hulk Hogan on Aug. 11, 2011 in Miami, Florida.WireImage

“My father was confiding in me about issues weighing on his heart, both personal and business. I offered to be a life raft in whatever capacity he needed. I told him he had my support. I begged him to rest, to take care of himself.”

Brooke said she “had to step away” from the relationship with her father over the last two years, “to protect my heart.”

As Brooke set boundaries in her relationship with Hulk, Oleksy acted as a median between the Hogans.

“I remained in contact with members of her family to try to keep that door open and understand if I should protect my wife or try to mend the relationship,” he tells PEOPLE.

Brooke said in her Instagram Post that she read the messages between Hulk and Olesky after her father’s death, “some answered, some ignored….but all of them broke my heart.”

“I know in my heart I did everything I could,” Brooke continued. “He knew I would run through a burning building for him. And in many ways, along the path of life, I did. He knows how deeply, how hard and how purely I loved him. I am at peace knowing this.”