Charlotte Opens Up About Her Life, Family and Career in Emotional Interview

Charlotte Flair took part in emotional interview with Arash Markazi from ESPN where she spoke about her life, family and career.

On opening up, hiding behind her on-screen character:

“I was very hesitant to open up about my past because I feel like for the past five years I’ve been hiding behind this character, Charlotte, that I’ve created. This character isn’t vulnerable and she’s not relatable. So I let down my guard and said, ‘OK, this is Ashley, and I am vulnerable and I am relatable and I’ve been through all these things that I’m ashamed of.’ I just committed to it and it was extremely therapeutic, and it took me two years to work on it. I just hope it saves someone’s life.”

On her first husband, Riki, who was abusive towards her:

“Riki was the hardest to write about. It was hard because I never dealt with it. I’m embarrassed and ashamed and why would I let myself go through something like that? If you would have talked to me six months ago, I probably wouldn’t have gotten through the interview without crying. I was still so raw, and even when talking about Reid I can feel it in my throat but I’m stronger now.”

On her beloved brother, Reid:

“I spent all this time trying to save Reid’s life but ultimately he saved mine. I couldn’t save my brother’s life and that’s something you have to learn through addiction; only they can make that decision. Reid never got to see me wrestle. I’m doing something that he wanted to do every single day of his life. How did he not get to see me wrestle? It’s not fair. It just stinks, you know?”

On addressing subjects like addiction and being the victim of domestic violence in the new book with her father:

“I’m not ashamed. I went through all of these things and I’ve come out on the other end stronger. Through the two years of writing this I’d be like, ‘Oh, this is a good idea, bad idea, good idea, bad idea.’ I’d be going to work thinking about the boys and are they going to look at me different because they don’t know this about me? I had a friend who I’ve known for five years at WWE come up to me and say, ‘I didn’t know you were married twice.’ I just haven’t opened up. If someone would have known me five years ago and read this book and to know where I am today, it’s the most unlikely journey. I literally had no idea what I was getting myself into when I showed up at FCW in Tampa.”

On what her father means to the wrestling business:

“I didn’t realize what my dad meant to wrestling until his Hall of Fame speech. Everyone was standing up and chanting, ‘Thank you Ric!’ and I said, ‘Wow, I guess he is kind of a big deal.”

On her ‘WrestleMania‘ moment:

“When I was at WrestleMania 32 in Dallas, before going out for our match, I looked at Becky [Lynch] and Sasha at Gorilla and I was thinking, ‘Man, they worked their whole life to be here.’ It’s always crazy to me to see people live out their dream. I can’t say that I’m living out my dream because at 16 I was thinking about what college I wanted to go to and if I was going to be in a sorority. It wasn’t my dream. It was my brother’s dream.”

On her transformation over the years:

“It’s crazy. Back at WrestleMania 24, Sasha and I sat across from each other. She was there for Snoop, and I was front row for my dad. We didn’t know each other. Fast-forward to last year and there we were, main eventing Hell in Cell. That’s so crazy. It’s been an amazing journey.”

Take a look back at the match between Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Charlotte at ‘WrestleMania 32.’ We highly suggest you check it out to see how these women created the women’s revolution and are still growing as performers.

Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte - WWE Women's Title Match: WrestleMania 32 on WWE Network

What are your thoughts on her responses? Are you intent on buying Charlotte & Ric Flair’s book? What is your greatest memory of Ultimate Warrior? Did you like his setup? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page or Twitter account. Additionally, you can find me on Twitter at @SOSNH1995. We also want to remind you that we have a Newsletter you can sign up to. This will allow us to send you the best news in one place via an email. We also have the Wrestling Rumors app that we encourage you all to download to get updates faster than they release on our various pages. It is available on Android and iOS devices.