WWE News: Natalya talks about her eating disorder as a child
What's the story?
In a recent episode of Lillian Garcia's podcast Chasing Glory, WWE Smackdown Live women's champion Natalya discussed her childhood, specifically the eating disorder she had when she was a teenager.
In case you didn't know...
Natalya is the current Smackdown Live women's champion. She defeated Naomi at Summerslam to win the title. It is only her second championship in WWE, despite being with the company for nearly a decade.
The heart of the matter
During an interview with Garcia on her podcast, Natalya opened up about an eating disorder she had when she was a kid.
"I had an eating disorder when I was eighteen, and it spanned the course of about three years," Natalya said. "In the course of two months – the summer that my uncle Owen died – I lost 40 pounds in two months, and my family was really scared, and I was really angry at them. And I didn’t realize it until years later, how crazy and scary I looked.”
Natalya credited Raw women's champion Alexa Bliss for giving her the courage to speak publicly about her eating disorder.
"I’ve actually talked to Alexa Bliss, and I said, ‘I just give you so much credit for being able to talk about it,'" Natalya said. "Since that happened, I’ve never been able to share that publicly with anyone. But then I thought, since she talked about her situation, it made me really respect her more because we can actually raise awareness, and help teach young girls that going through something like this is really common.”
What's next?
Ironically, Natalya is scheduled to face Alexa Bliss at Survivor Series in a "champion vs. champion" showdown. Survivor Series is scheduled for November 19 at 8 p.m. EST from Houston, Texas.
Author's Take
This is pretty cool of Natalya to speak out on something that obviously bothered her as a child and adult. Hopefully, she can bring awareness to the disorder and help people out who are going through similar struggles.