Bianca Belair overcame a lot of adversity and struggled a lot before making her way to NXT. She has now opened up about her struggles in order to inspire those who are dealing with what she was able to beat.
On Chasing Glory, Bianca Belair talked about her struggles with eating disorders and how she managed to defeat bulimia. Here is what she said:
“So in high school I was probably around 155, and I wanted to run fast, I wanted to get a scholarship, so it was drilled in me that if you lose weight, you’ll run faster. So I went on a diet, I did lose weight, but I got to a plateau and I couldn’t lose anymore weight, so I started throwing my food up, so I became bulimic. I became bulimic. And I lost weight and I actually ran faster which is crazy but I ended up getting hurt because I didn’t have the right nutrients and I wasn’t keeping the vitamins down, the nutrients, I’m getting hurt, but I already got my scholarship to South Carolina.”
“So I went to South Carolina my freshman year and I decided I don’t want to do this anymore, I’m not going to do this anymore. I’m starting over, I’m starting fresh. I got what I wanted. The goal was to get a scholarship and I got it, so let’s start fresh, let’s not do this anymore.”
“In my mind I was telling myself I’m not going to do this anymore, I’m here, I’m going to try to start new, and I ended up having this obsession with food where I was now binge eating at night, I wasn’t eating in front of people but I would go and binge eat at night and I was gaining all this weight, and then I had the coaches tell me, ‘What happened to the Bianca from high school, we need the same Bianca from high school.’ So instead of seeking help and figuring out the healthy way to get back there, I went back to throwing my food up again.”
“So now, I’m binge eating and throwing it up, binge eating and throwing it up. And of course, I’m not going to perform well doing that. Mentally I wasn’t there. I got depressed and I ended up being prescribed medication and things just didn’t work out there. But at that time, I felt like I was young, my first time being on my own, and I was blaming everyone else. It’s the coach’s fault, it’s the program’s fault, I’m not running fast because of this, but really I wasn’t running fast because of the things I was doing to myself.”
The EST Of NXT has certainly gone through a lot and she is always prepared to overcome all obstacles in front of her. She is gearing up to face Rhea Ripley for the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: Portland on February 16th. Perhaps we will see her finally win the title.
h/t to 411 Mania for the transcription.
