Charlotte Flair spent a decade trying to prove she deserved her WWE spot — and now she says she probably should have stopped apologizing for being Ric Flair’s daughter a hell of a lot sooner.
While speaking with Stephanie McMahon on What’s Your Story?, Flair opened up about the pressure that comes with walking into the wrestling business carrying one of the most famous last names imaginable. Instead of embracing it from day one, Charlotte says she spent years chasing approval from people who were always going to have something to say anyway.
The subject came up when Flair revealed that Simone Johnson once privately asked her how she handles being the child of a wrestling legend. Charlotte’s advice now is basically the complete opposite of how she approached her own career when she first broke through.
“If I could teach her one thing, and I hope she doesn’t mind that I say this, but I talked to Simone privately because she was like, ‘How do you deal with it?’ I’m like, ‘If I had someone that was 10 years older than me that had the same kind of situation, I’d grab them and be like, own it. That’s what makes you special because your parents are this or that is your last name. Don’t feel shy of it.’”
Charlotte then turned the spotlight back on herself and admitted she wishes she had taken that exact advice in 2015. Back then, Flair says she was busy trying to convince everybody that she belonged in WWE because she worked hard, was talented and had earned her opportunity. Looking back now, she thinks she could have saved herself years of headaches by simply owning exactly who she was.
“I had wished in 2015, instead of being like, ‘You guys, I really want to be here and I really want to earn this, and I’m really good and I work really hard.’ If I had just been like, ‘I didn’t have to do a damn thing.’ Nothing. I didn’t have to do. I would have done it on owner instead of like, why am I chasing 10 years of validation? I don’t need your validation.”
That realization apparently came with one hell of a price tag emotionally. Stephanie joked about all the grief Charlotte could have avoided, and Flair agreed that she put herself through plenty of unnecessary stress while trying to win over people who had already made up their minds about her.
“That’s so funny. I could have saved a lot of—Grief. Yes! Yes. Yes, a lot of stress. Yes.”
Charlotte’s message these days is much different. Instead of telling younger wrestlers with famous families to distance themselves from their background, she wants them to run straight at it.
“But when you get your hands on kids, shake them and like, ‘This is who you are, don’t change it, use it.’ Whatever your background is.”
That’s a pretty massive shift for someone who spent years trying to separate Charlotte Flair from Ric Flair whenever critics screamed nepotism. She spent 10 years fighting for validation, only to reach the point where she realized the Flair name was never something she needed to run from in the first place.
Charlotte can’t go back and redo 2015, but she can make sure the next generation doesn’t waste the same amount of time trying to satisfy people who were never going to be satisfied anyway. These days, The Queen isn’t asking permission to be Ric Flair’s daughter — she’s telling others with famous families to own exactly who they are.
Do you think Charlotte Flair would have had an easier WWE career if she embraced being Ric Flair’s daughter from the beginning instead of trying to prove herself for years? Let us know what you think and leave your feedback in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
