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#1. She is a survivor
Rhea Ripley struggled in high school and was made to feel 'stupid' for most of her life. When she made it to WWE, the bullying changed forms, but didn't exactly let up.
At one time, Ripley turned to cutting to deal with the pain she felt:
"I abused myself [cutting]. I used to do that when I was younger and even think about it now when I'm really beating myself up. It sort of made me feel more alive than I felt on the inside. I felt very dead on the inside and broken. When you rip the skin, you know you're still alive and the blood is still pumping because it's coming out. That's how I felt, at least.
"I'm not too sure if everyone feels that way because everyone's story is different and everyone feels differently, but that's how I felt. I used to do that when I was younger and I still have scars to show. I've got them on my thigh. The ones on my wrist aren't very visible because they've healed, but the one thing that really kept me going was that I wanted to make it here."
Ripley credits wrestling for having saved her life.
The NXT UK Superstar still faces daily backlash from nameless, faceless, online trolls, but has succeeded in using the bullying as motivation,
"There's so many keyboard warriors that just love to pick on wrestlers. They just absolutely love it. I don't get why they love it, but at the same time, I'm like, 'Give me more.' Pick on me, please. It's only going to light a fire and I'm going to prove you wrong."
Ripley intentionally reads all internet comments about herself, looks at everything she's tagged in, and frequently performs vanity searches. She does so in an attempt to find extra motivation:
"I get to see all those people that hate on me and want to bring me down, but I'm not gonna let them bring me down. I'm gonna use it to sky rocket through the roof. I love reading that stuff. I'll purposefully post pictures and write little comments like, 'Tell me what you hate about me. Hate me, see if I care.'
"Yes, I get a lot of things I disagree with, like body shaming, for one, where they're just like, 'You're too muscular, you look like a man.' You're just insecure. You're a little scrawny dude or you just can't move because you're too busy on your computer."
Readers may watch Lilian Garcia's interview with Rhea Ripley in its entirety below:
(Please credit Michael McClead of Sportskeeda if you use any of the quotes from this article).
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