Former WWE Diva Melina Perez recently spoke to huffingtonpost.com where she revealed some unknown secrets. Here are some highlights;
“That was my experience as an adult, that’s the sad thing,” she confessed. “Now that I’m reaching 40, I have better awareness and ways of coping. In my 20s, I couldn’t see things as clearly, be as articulate and process as much.
“I can only imagine what it would be like to go through that in my teens, how much more insane the emotions,” Perez said.
“I talk to people now, and they thought I was so confident,” Melina expressed. “I was doing all this awesome stuff onstage, and they didn’t realise I was going through so much loneliness and hurt backstage. It was like high school.”
“I’m proud of that character, then and now, because it was just a character – and she was great at being a bitch – but when it came to my personal life, it felt like everyone around me thought that’s who I was,” Perez said. “I just felt so invisible.”
“I had actual relationships — I got shamed for getting another boyfriend, and I was just trying to find love,” she pointed out.
“People shame women, but then you see all these guys, and they can do whatever they want,” she continued. “That isn’t just in wrestling, that is life. This is the way women are seen now in general.”
“At the time, it felt like, ‘What did I do [in wrestling]?’ – especially since it felt like the whole world hated me. I was this big villain [on TV],” she shared. “I’m such a tender-hearted person, it all did effect me.
“People would put me down and say how ‘worthless’ I am,” she continued. “Then I would get people hating me because of the character, and it felt like I was worthless.”
Trying to cope while continuing to work the gruelling WWE schedule was a juggling act. That many around her did not understand made matters worse.
“Everyone kept telling me, ‘You just need a thicker skin,” she said.
“When it comes to acknowledging true feelings, no one should ever tell you to hide that and ‘Oh, just get over it!’” she said seemingly as much to herself as anyone else dealing with a similar situation.
“To muffle stuff and put it on the backburner…at some point it is probably going to come up,” Perez declared, “And the emotions are going to be worse than ever.”