Bret Hart Once Discouraged Natalya From Pursuing Wrestling

Natalya reflects on when her uncle, Bret Hart, initially discouraged her from pursuing a career in professional wrestling.

Today, Natalya proudly represents the Hart family in WWE. She carries the legacy of her father, Jim Neidhart; her uncles, British Bulldog, Owen Hart, and Bret Hart; and her grandfather, Stu Hart. However, as many people know, the wrestling world has also brought tragedy and pain to the Hart family. That is why Bret Hart initially discouraged Nattie Neidhart from pursuing a career in the industry.

Natalya recently told the story of when “The Hitman” briefly refused to support her career choice. However, he was quick to apologize, as she shared on the Jann Arden podcast.

“I feel strongly like my grandmother, Helen, she didn’t recover at all from Owen’s passing. My grandfather was a lot stronger in dealing with it, but I felt like my grandmother wasn’t able to really recover from it. So Bret had talked to me. In early 2000, I told him I wanted to get into professional wrestling, and Brett discouraged me. He’s like, ‘Nattie, you can’t. I don’t want you doing it. I don’t want you getting hurt. I don’t want you being hurt emotionally. I don’t want you being hurt physically. I just don’t think you should do it.’ So he writes about this in great detail, and it makes me, like, emotional talking about it, because he really didn’t want me doing it. He said, ‘I’ve been hurt so much, and I saw what happened with Owen, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.’ I remember being so sad after that conversation with him, but I just was like, ‘I’ve gotta try it, though.’ There was such a part of me that still, even with Bret telling me that, I was like, ‘I gotta to do it.’

“So Bret, about a week later, came and found me in the Dungeon, and after a practice, and said, ‘I’m so sorry. I want to apologize like I was wrong for saying that to you. Like, who am I to tell you that you can’t chase your dreams? Who am I to tell you that you can’t? I’ve been able to do the most extraordinary things through wrestling. I’ve been able to travel the world and meet people from every walk of life and just have this incredible life. So while there have been very hard times, some of the best times were in were in professional wrestling. I want you to chase your dream and chase it with everything you have.’ Bret says, in a family where I was the least likely to make it, I was the first woman in our family to get in the ring and compete. He goes, ‘You were the one who was the. Least likely to make it, and you were the last one still doing it in WWE.’ You’re the last one in that company that’s still representing our family in WWE, and he’s like, ‘You’re the one that survived everything. You survived the good, the bad, and everything in between. Not only did you survive a business that’s hard to survive in, you thrived in it.’

“So, that’s another thing, it’s like, I think sometimes the hard things in life are worth going through to find out who it is you are, and I’m just so proud to be able to come out on this other side knowing that, I may not be the first person in my family to win a championship, I may not be the first person in my family to be in the Hall of Fame. I won’t be the first person in my family to go to WrestleMania and main event the show. I won’t be the first to do a lot of things in my family, but I will be the first person in my family to beat the house, if that makes sense, and to do it with pride and integrity, and not leave this business broke or broken.”

Natalya is currently going through a character change outside of WWE, where she performs as Nattie Neidhart. Learn more about this transformation here.

Fans can pre-order her autobiography on Amazon at this link.