Hulk Hogan Funded By Billionaire During Lawsuit Against Gawker?

The New York Times is reporting that professional wrestling legend, Hulk Hogan, had a secret financial backer for his invasion of privacy lawsuit against online media company, Gawker.

In 2012, Gawker published a sex tape of Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, without his permission. This March, the pro wrestling heavyweight was awarded a jury verdict of $140 million as a result.

According to The New York Times, Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, secretly bankrolled Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker, as Thiel was outed as gay by Gawker in 2007 and has had a contentious relationship with the company ever since.

This news comes only days after Nick Denton, Gawker's founder, speculated that Hogan had to have been receiving funds from a third party to finance the lawsuit. The identity of the person who revealed Thiel's involvement in the case remains unknown at this time.