A.J. Lee was a recent guest on Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk Radio. During the appearance, she discussed her wrestling career as well as her continuing fight with bipolar disorder. Here are the highlights:
On Discovering Her Fandom:
I tried to find solace and escape in the world of fantasy and fiction, and so that was comic books, that was anime, that was video games, but I found such an escape in the world of fantasy where there were superheroes that were strong and fighting crime and the good guy would win at the end of the day. Then I found professional wrestling and these people were flesh and blood superheroes in spandex and so from a young age I saw that that it just spoke to me and I saw a place for me that wasn’t represented.
On Why She Dealt With Injuries Differently Than Other Wrestlers:
I think what made it more difficult for me is being bipolar and being on certain medications. When you get injuries some people are like “Okay, I’ll take a painkiller.” I couldn’t do that. I didn’t trust myself doing that. I didn’t think that was safe so I had to power through all that stuff.
On The Difficulty Of Her Disease:
A lot of people get intimidated about the long road to recovery and sometimes people get misdiagnosed as just being depressed and anti-depressants are really dangerous if you’re bipolar, but when you find the right diagnosis, it is a bit of a struggle to get your perfect formula for treatment.
Two people are not going to have the same treatment. They’re not going to have the same medication, or just how they treat themselves in life, whether it’s meditation or exercise or therapy. You have to find the right cocktail for you and I found that luckily early enough to gain complete control over my life.
I think not only is there a science behind it of the serotonin and the endorphins that it’s it releasing when you get that high, but there’s something about feeling capable and feeling strong and, “okay, I can lift this weight,” or “I did a four mile run” and just feeling capable is something that will bring you out of any funk that you’re in.
On If Any Part Of Her Personality Is The Result Of Her Disease:
The source of my powers, if you will, I find that I believe in myself possibly a little too much sometimes. You know, I don’t a lot of people thought you could go from homeless to being a champion on television, or they could go from being underweight and sickly to being in wrestling into an athletic career. There’s a lot of people that didn’t think a pro wrestler was smart enough to write a book by herself.
It made me braver, it made me tougher, it made me a little brazen that maybe rubbed people the wrong way, but at least I was always honest. I’m the kind of person that can’t really keep my mouth shut. If I see that there is some sort of injustice the world, even if I have to stand up alone, I’m gonna stand up.
And being like extra empathetic because you have this large range of emotions. I can feel other people’s pain, maybe a little too deeply, but at least I understand them. I think my best qualities have come from being bipolar, and I’m afraid to think of who I’d be without it.
On What She Had To Do To Adapt To Her Illness:
There’s this feeling of machismo and this tough as nails sort of mandate amongst our [Hispanic] families and so that was one thing that was against me. Being a tiny woman was another thing against me. I think there’s something about being young and naive and kind of just hopeful that you can really do anything in the world and not knowing the realities of the world that somehow didn’t stop me. It just made me want to kind of fight for it harder.
You can listen to the full interview below:
Credit: Startalk. H/T Wrestlezone.
