AJ Lee on if Punk Knew She Had Bipolar Disorder, Her Wrestling Goals

AJ Lee was interviewed by Jim Norton and Sam Roberts where she spoke all about her condition and relationship with CM Punk.

On what she calls her husband, Punk:

“You know what’s interesting? We were just having this conversation, that if you’re not super-entrenched into [pro] wrestling, you might think it’s really disrespectful to just call a grown man ‘Punk’, so a lot of people tend to say ‘CM’. Right. Somebody asked me yesterday, they go, ‘do you call him Punk?’ and I’m like, ‘what is wrong with you? What do you think?’ Yes [AJ calls him Phil]!”

On what ‘CM’ stands for:

“I think it’s supposed to be a mystery for the fans for the rest of time, so he says something different every time, so I don’t want to break that.”

On when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder:

“Yeah, it runs in my family, bipolar disorder does, depression does. My brother’s a soldier. He has PTSD. It’s something we’re more susceptible to and I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around 19 [or] 20 [years of age].”

On if Punk knew of her mental condition prior to dating her:

“We were really good friends for a long time before we ever dated, so he knew. He knew what he was getting into, I like to say! It would have been great I didn’t tell him, and we got married and I’m like, ‘ha! You bought this!'”

On what Punk does to help her:

“He tries his best to help me through those [depressive] days and I had one not too long ago and my birthday was a few days away, it was my 30th birthday and I was so excited and I was bummed out, basically, that I was going to miss my birthday because these cycles last maybe a week or two.” AJ continued, “and he was so great and he surprised me and flew one my best friends in to try and lift my spirits for my birthday and it worked!”

On who she told about her bipolar disorder:

“Well, no one knew. It was something I kept close to the vest. Only the closest people to me, that would travel with me, or I would hang out with them, I would tell them. I was lucky to have really good friends on the road that I could tell them, ‘okay, look out for me today. Make sure I don’t kill anyone.’ But it was because I have committed to a perfect combination of therapy and treatment, I do feel like I’m able to handle the stress of that and able to power through even when I am having a bad day.”

On her wrestling goals:

“For me, there were so many moments in my life where it was just about getting signed, just about getting a job that I could help support my family, and then it happened. Then, I was like, ‘oh, then I have to make new goals.’ And I literally wrote a list and I was like, ‘okay, here are all the things I need to accomplish in [pro] wrestling. This’ll take me a decade, but this needs to happen or I’ll never leave.’ And then, I did them all in three years, a lot of them within the first year, and you’re kind of left in this place where I think people like struggling in a weird way, people are a little masochistic, and they want something to be angry about or fighting for. When you’re content, that’s a strange feeling and so you have to say, ‘what is the next goal? What is the next big thing that I need to accomplish while I’m still healthy, and young, and still have opportunities?'”

H/T to WrestlingInc for the transcription.

If you would like to hear an audio version of the comments made by Lee, you can check out the video below for the full interview.

AJ (Lee) Mendez Brooks - Leaving WWE, CM Punk, Being Bipolar, etc - Jim Norton & Sam Roberts

What do you believe ‘CM’ stands for? What are your opinions and thoughts on what Lee said?

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