Brandi Rhodes reflects on her father-in-law, Dusty Rhodes, and Cody Rhodes as a father.
Brandi Rhodes recently gave birth to her and Cody's first daughter, Liberty. Together, they are starting a new journey and furthering the Rhodes family legacy.
When many people think of the patriarch of the family, Dusty Rhodes, they typically think of great wrestling matches and enticing promos. For Brandi, she thinks about how giving Dusty Rhodes was in his life, and in a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, she reflects on the best advice that the former NWA World Champion gave to her.
"Dusty was always 'Be straightforward' as far as I was concerned. We would talk about wrestling and different aspects of it, he would say 'Tell me straight, what do you want to do? What is the plan? What do you see?' I would say to him what I would see and that this is my perfect plan. He would then say 'Ok, you have to say that. You have to tell people this is what you want because no one knows this. Even though you feel like you are making it obvious, it's not. You have to tell people what you want and you have to show them.' That is what has stuck with me and is something I have thought about in my transition of going from ring announcing at this comfortable job, to moving to the unknown. It wasn't ultimately what I wanted to do. Mine and Cody's move happened soon after we lost Dusty, I think a lot of his advice rang true to us of you only live once."
Brandi would also talk about how Cody Rhodes has changed since being a father. She would joke that he already had "dad' brain” before the baby was born and she's thankful for the support system they have.
"Oh Cody had dad brain before, it's worse. He is really trying to find his balance. But the good thing is we are kind of surrounded by people who are empowering us and helping us, that has gone a long way. Otherwise, I think we would both be floating out to sea on a raft, waiting for someone to come and help us."
Regarding the name of their baby, Liberty, Brandi Rhodes would say that it is actually an extension of their love for Disney and stems from the moment they shared in Magic Kingdom.
"I'm so glad that people are starting to ask about this! I feel like people think the reason is because of everything to do with Cody being a patriotic dude. That's really cool, I love it, but I wouldn't name my daughter Liberty for that reason. It's because of Disney, we are both huge Disney fans. Before we found out that we were pregnant, we were at Disney and just walking around whimsically. We were just talking about kids and what would their names be. I said we definitely need to have a Disney connection, but it can't be on the nose like Elsa. I can do better than that. So we were just walking around and talking, throwing things out there. Then we walked into Liberty Square in Magic Kingdom. I saw the sign and said 'What about Liberty?' Cody said 'I love that!' Cut to a year later and we are pregnant, and we knew that Liberty was going to be the name."
Brandi Rhodes has recently returned to All Elite Wrestling alongside Cody Rhodes. Cody will be in action against Malakai Black once again on Saturday Night Dynamite on October 23.
