Hulk Hogan has begged fans to forgive him after audio of the wrestler using racist language was leaked by a US magazine.

The 62-year-old wrestler appeared on Good Morning America where he wept as he said sorry for using racist language in a rant, recorded in 2007, about his daughter Brooke’s boyfriend being black.

Hogan – who has had his contract terminated by World Wrestling Entertainment Inc (WWE) – said: “I was at the lowest point of my life, to the point where I wanted to kill myself. And I was very mad at my daughter, for really no reason. I was upset over a situation that happened between her and her boyfriend. And I had no idea I was being taped.”

On the audio the Hulk, real name Terry Bollea, refers to his daughter’s boyfriend using the N word.

Hogan said: “I’m not a racist. I never should have said what I said. It was wrong, I’m embarrassed by it.

“But you inherit things from your environment. Where I grew up was a rough neighbourhood and all my friends, we greeted each other using that word. The word was just thrown around like it was nothing.”

He added: “Please forgive me. I’m a nice guy. I’m not the Hulk Hogan that rips his shirt off and slams giants. I’m Terry Bollea, I’m just a normal man.”

Hulk Hogan with daughter Brooke
Hulk Hogan with daughter Brooke (Henny Ray Abrams/AP)

When the interviewer read a poem posted by his daughter on Facebook in his defence, the Hulk broke down.

Fighting back tears he said: “If anyone should have disowned me it should have been her,” before asking for filming to be stopped.

Stars of WWE have spoken out in his support and the Hulk is begging for his job back.

Hulk said: “Just because a person makes a mistake don’t throw them away. If everyone was judged on one thing they said and all of a sudden your whole career was wiped out, it would be a sad world. People get better every day.”