How Tony Hawk spends his 5-9: From playing with his grandson to taking creatine

Business Insider

09-07-2025

There are two versions of Tony Hawk, but you wouldn't know it by looking at his home office.
The shelves behind him on our video call are stacked with various knickknacks befitting of the icon of youth culture, like a coffee table book about the iconic '80s British punk band The Clash. And there's a sky blue skateboard propped up beside the wooden office door.
For those who watched Hawk make his name (and tens of millions of dollars) as the first truly famous skateboarder, he is crystallized as forever young in their memories. Creating one of the most successful and best-loved video game series of all time, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater," solidified that. ("Pro Skater 3+4," a remake of the 2001-2002 games where your character wheels around various skate spots, completing tricks and missions, drops Friday).
The fact that he's pushing 60 is such a strange concept that it's an inside joke between him and fans who pretend not to recognize him. How could Tony Hawk — the kid at the skatepark who was imaginative, dogged, and dumb enough to pull off the types of tricks that helped skating go mainstream in the '80s and '90s — get old?
The 2022 documentary "Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off" explores this tension. His friends say they hope he'll soon slow down over footage of him repeatedly smashing to the ground as he tries to recreate what's known as the 900. In 1999, Hawk landed the trick — which involves spinning 900 degrees midair — after trying for a decade. Before that, skaters had only dreamed of it.
But when he recalls seriously breaking his leg in 2022 during our call, it's clear there are two Tonys: pre-and post-break Tony.
He's no stranger to injuries, but snapping your femur in half at 53 is as bad as it sounds, and it took him 12 months to recover. Becoming a grandad was another profound change. (His son, Riley Hawk, and Frances Bean Cobain have a 10-month-old son. Yes, that Frances Bean Cobain).
Now, for the first time ever, Hawk works out daily, diligently takes supplements, and, without a sliver of regret in his voice, tells me he is at peace with retiring skating moves that he pioneered — including the 900. All this, he says, means he can still skate at the iconic action sports competition, the X Games, starting that evening.
I get the sense that now, at 57 years old, he applies the same blinkered focus that made his career to a new passion: aging well and having fun.
For the latest installment of Business Insider's 5-9 series, Hawk shared how the post-break Tony spends his free time, as part of his partnership with CarGurus' "Big Deal" campaign, which celebrates life's biggest moments behind the wheel and beyond.
Skating and supplements
If I'm at home, we're up pretty early, usually by 6 or 6:30 a.m. Our daughter is turning 17 soon, and we make sure she gets out the door.
I work for at least an hour and try to find time to skate, usually around 11 a.m. I have a ramp in my office that's about a 15-minute drive from here, so that's my happy place.
Then just taking whatever comes — we are grandparents now, so maybe half the days he's here for a little while, and I try to work around that.
It's just been so much fun having him. As soon as he comes into our door, he knows that it's all about him.
You mentioned skating. Considering all the injuries you've had, how much do you think about longevity and aging? Do you set yourself up for the day by taking supplements, for instance?
I do. I take some supplements including CoQ 10, a statin, multivitamins, and creatine, stuff like that.
Honestly, a workout routine is something new to me. That's something I never did because I kind of prided myself on not being an athlete, so to speak. But at my age, I need something else to stay fit, to stay loose, to stay in motion.
That's the one thing that has kept me at this level at my age. I'm literally flying to X Games in a couple hours, and I'll be on the ramp this evening.
So that's kind of the state of things, and I love it. It's a blast.
That's incredible. I watched the 2022 documentary "Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off," and your friend said that you are not slowing down, just doing more gnarly stuff. Is that how you approach aging?
I have definitely slowed down since then. I broke my leg three years ago, after that documentary, and that changed everything for me in terms of assessing risk, my approach, my carelessness. My cavalier attitude to skating definitely changed in that recovery process. And for the better: I have a healthier relationship with skateboarding and risk.
Would you say your attitude has also changed since you've had a grandchild?
That helped to reiterate why I need to take it a little easier. I'm not breaking new ground necessarily, and I've let some techniques go.
It's just more fun now. I value it more because of the injury and the recovery I went through. Every opportunity is a gift. Every ollie [a fundamental move where the skater and the board become airborne] is a thing to be cherished. That's how I feel now.
Testing 'Pro Skater' and takeouts with the kids
I love that. Tell me about what part of the day you come up with your best ideas, like creating " Pro Skater" or the insane feats you do, like skating over a Mini Cooper?
It's usually when I'm falling asleep. Sometimes I have to wake up and write things down.
When your brain is finally slowing down, I imagine. When it comes to the evenings, is dinner time family time for you?
Yeah, we eat at home for the most part. If the kids are home for the weekend or whatever, we'll try to make sure that we do something at home. Generally, I'm ordering food if it's a big crew. If they're home, that means they're with their friends, and so it kind of keeps growing.
One of our sons drove home late last night and got in at like 2 a.m. So they come and go, and we try to capture those moments.
What's your go-to order?
Oh, that's opening a can of worms.
It's controversial?
There's a really good Peruvian place here in Encinitas. That's one of our favorites. We're all over the place though. You name it: Mexican, Thai, Japanese.
You have a very unique family: Kurt Cobain was your daughter-in-law's father. When you go out as a family, do people recognize you and talk to you?
They're mostly respectful and friendly, or they're confused. They see my face and they'd know it from somewhere, or they didn't imagine that I could have grown old. And so there's a lot of confusion in that. It happens all the time.
But I never aspired to fame. To have it is strange, but I've learned to live with it, and it's amazing. I mean, just the fact that people will tell me that a video game changed their interests and their musical tastes. I'm hugely proud of those kinds of things.
In the evening are you on the go, even before bed? I just can't imagine you taking a day off.
It's pretty rare, but they do happen. And when they happen, we're usually planning stuff with our kids.
How often do you have a day off where you just do nothing?
Well, I could tell you right now, I'm looking at my calendar. There were four this month.
OK. Wow, that's pretty intense. Do you play "Pro Skater" to wind down?
[laughs] Yes and no. I usually find time to play that during the day. That still is kind of a job in terms of R and D, but it's close to release, so it's not like we're making any changes. My job is kind of done there.
My wife and I just try to unwind and watch something, catch up on a show or a documentary, something like that.