WWE News: Charlotte talks about how her wrestling saved Ric Flair's life
What's the story?
Charlotte Flair was interviewed by Brian Campbell for the In This Corner podcast [H/T Prowrestling.com], where she revealed that her wrestling career saved her and her father's life after her brother, Reid, passed away.
In case you didn't know...
Reid Flair was the youngest son of Ric Flair and Charlotte's younger brother. He passed away as a result of an accidental drug overdose in 2013 which left the Flair family devastated.
His death was mentioned in WWE with mocking overtones during a 2015 feud between Charlotte and Paige. It was later revealed that WWE had not taken permission from the Flair family when they used the story of his death on television, and his parents were caught by surprise when they saw it for the first time.
The heart of the matter
Charlotte talked about how her wrestling career helped bring herself and her father out of the shadow of the tragedy and helped them move forward. She admitted that after her brother passed away, it could have been rock bottom for them, but her wrestling career helped introduce a new chapter in her life.
“I don’t know if me and my dad have necessarily touched on this because we talk about Reid but not a lot."
"I showed back up a week later at FCW, which is now NXT, because Dusty Rhodes said, ‘We want you back, we need you back.’ And from that point on decided that I was going to make it in this industry. Because I worked so hard there, that gave my dad more reason to be active in the wrestling community and I think that helped him a lot with his later on career and life after just besides the ring.”
Ric was extremely active in Charlotte's career and in the beginning, accompanied her to the ring and even became involved in some matches, acting as her manager. This helped him to remain busy during one of the darkest points of his life.
What's next?
Ric Flair recently went through major treatment and was in critical condition for a long time. After one and a half weeks, he recovered and came out of danger, and since then has been on the fast road to recovery.
Author's take
Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult experiences anyone can go through. Even the most strong-willed person may find it difficult to come out of such a situation undamaged, and Charlotte's in-ring career is just what helped her father and herself to make it through the dark days.
Charlotte is now one of the top women in the WWE's women's division, and it has a lot to do with her father's involvement in the beginning of her career, guiding her when she was inexperienced in the business.