Layla walked away from WWE in 2015 and then completely disappeared from wrestling, and now she says the reason was simple — the business had become her entire identity.
During TMZ’s Inside the Ring, Layla explained that after nine years in WWE, she reached a point where she no longer knew who she was outside of being a WWE Diva. Once she retired, she decided she needed a complete break instead of keeping one foot in the business.
“When I left WWE, Layla was like my whole identity. I believe my identity was just around that I’m a WWE Diva, on TV, blah, blah, blah. I lost myself, and I can honestly say that. I look back and I can say I lost myself. When I retired, I literally just disappeared. I stopped everything.”
Layla also admitted that leaving the spotlight forced her to deal with getting older after years of being presented heavily around her looks, and she knew she needed distance from wrestling to figure things out for herself.
“When you’ve always been known for your looks and stuff like that — I was eye candy for a very long time — getting older as a female, it’s tough. It’s a little bit tough, and you have to do some growth and grow with it. For me, I just stepped away. I didn’t want anything to do with wrestling, not because I hated it. I just needed it for myself.”
That total shutdown came with a cost. Layla said some people in wrestling took her disappearance personally, and she believes she lost relationships because of it. Still, she says the decision was about taking care of herself, not cutting anyone off out of anger.
“I actually think I offended a lot of people. I lost a lot of wrestling family relationships because I think a lot of people took it personally. But it was nothing about anybody else. It was just about myself, and I was being very selfish and taking care of me at that time, and that’s what I needed.”
Layla believes keeping the wrestling door cracked open would have pulled her right back into appearances and other commitments before she was ready, so she made sure it stayed shut.
“I’m so glad I did it because otherwise I think I would have been back and doing this and doing that, when it’s like, no, I’m done. I’m retired. I need that door to be closed. It was a decision I made and I stuck to it, and I’m glad I did. I don’t have any regrets about it.”
More than a decade later, Layla is back around wrestling through appearances and her new podcast, but now she’s doing it on her own terms instead of letting the business consume her identity again.
What do you think about Layla completely walking away from wrestling after WWE, even if it cost her some friendships along the way? Drop your thoughts in the comments and let us know.
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