Layla Says She ‘Lost Herself’ After Leaving WWE, Believes She Offended Many People By Stepping Away From Wrestling
Layla comments on losing her identity after leaving WWE.
One of the female wrestlers who retired from the business and hasn’t returned to the ring yet is Layla. She last wrestled back in 2015 and never worked another match again.
Speaking on TMZ’s Inside The Ring, Layla was asked about her transition from being an active in-ring wrestler to all of it going away after retirement.
“When I made up my mind, I’m the kind of person like once I’m done, I’m done. I used to be extreme to extreme. I’ve leveled out. When I left WWE, Layla, my whole identity was lost. I believe my identity was just that I’m a WWE diva on TV. I lost myself. I can honestly say that. I look back, and I can say I lost myself.
When I retired, I literally just disappeared. I stopped everything. Growing up, getting older, you know what I mean? When you’ve always been for your looks and stuff like that. It was like eye candy for a very long time. Getting older as a female, it’s tough. It’s a little bit tough, and you have to do some growth and grow with it. For me, I just stepped away. I didn’t want anything to do with wrestling. Not because I hated it. I just needed it for myself. I just leveled out.”
Later, Layla commented on offending many people due to retirement.
“I think I offended a lot of people. I lost a lot of wrestling family relationships. I think a lot of people took it personally, like I just went. It was nothing about anybody else. It was just about myself. I was being very selfish and taking care of me at that time. That’s what I needed. I’m so glad I did it. Otherwise, I think I would have been back, doing this and doing that. When it’s like, I’m done, I’m retired. I need that door to be closed. It was a decision I made, and I stuck to it. I’m glad I was. I don’t have any words about it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Layla recalled a bizarre fan signing request. Fans can read more about it here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
