Rhea Ripley has revealed she suffered a full panic attack and collapsed in catering during WWE’s Australian tour, and described cutting a toxic person completely out of her life in the aftermath, on What’s Your Story with Steph McMahon.
Ripley described being overwhelmed during a three-show stretch in Australia that included SmackDown, Crown Jewel, and Raw.
“I had like that on my mind. I had like the people pleaser on me trying to see everyone at home. I had me trying to please everyone in Australia because I felt like the face of Australia in WWE, so like I take full responsibility for everything that’s happening here. I take responsibility for how I perform. I take responsibility for how these fans treat my peers. I took responsibility for too much, and I just wanted to make sure everyone was happy, and I was just like at such a really low point, like even after, because we had the three shows, we had I had Smackdown, then we had Crown, and then we had Raw. By the time Raw was done, I like collapsed in catering.”
She described what happened when the shows ended.
“I had like a full panic attack, and I just.. I couldn’t, like, I hadn’t eaten, I hadn’t drank water, my body was shutting down, and I was just like, it’s probably the skinniest I’d ever been, and I was just like dying, and then that person kept like lingering around, just making it worse, and like, my panic attacks were just getting worse, and I was like, I just, I can’t do this.”
She had already been in a dark place at home before the tour due to the same person.
“It was like that for a while, just couldn’t, I couldn’t charge that battery because going home, and like that person was around, and it’s like I just, I couldn’t, it was just a dark, dark place.”
After returning from Australia, Ripley sent a message ending the relationship entirely.
“After that, after that trip, I made sure to start putting myself first, and kind of like chopping people out completely, like I sent them a long message, they never replied, because, like, I didn’t want them to, and I pretty much was like, ‘We’re done here, like, Yeah, I can’t give you any more of me, like we are. Done. Don’t ever message me again. Don’t think that we have a friendship. Like, get, get the fuck out of my life.’”
She described how it felt afterwards: “It felt really, really nice. And that was a big lesson for me this past year.”
Ripley also spoke broadly about the pattern of people-pleasing that had built up over time.
“I’m someone who’s like a massive people pleaser, and I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I want to make sure that everyone is happy and okay, and set up, and not struggling, and I give them too much of myself to help them. But then I found that some people just take, and they don’t do anything to help themselves, they just take more of me, and I have to accept that letting people go is a good thing.”
She said the lesson keeps recurring in her life.
“Friendships are long friendships, and it’s like it impacts you so deeply, you don’t want to let that go, like that person go, because you got so many good memories, but it’s like sometimes you just gotta snip.”
On what she is trying to hold onto while making these changes: “I don’t want to lose my nurturing, caring side, but I have to protect my peace at the same time. Yes, that’s important, especially in this like job and this lifestyle and everything, like you have to protect your own mental health.”
If you use quotes from this article, please credit What’s Your Story with Steph McMahon with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
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