Beth Phoenix Discusses Dealing With Body Issues, Icons Documentary & More

During a recent Busted Open Radio interview, WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix discussed her upcoming WWE Network 'Icons' documentary.

“When I said I would do it I thought to myself, ‘Well, this is something where I’d like to share the good, the bad and the ugly.’ I’d always presented myself like confident in being a big woman and being strong and having these muscles, but that wasn’t always the case. It was this huge journey for me of self-acceptance to find out where I fit in the scheme of things and the scope. And I kind of talk about in the documentary, always trying to squash the square peg into the round hole. ‘Be the next Trish, be the next Trish.’ And then I think gears didn’t start moving for me and success didn’t start rolling until I figured out how to be myself. And that took many years, you know. That’s a journey from childhood. So, I was really happy to share that, and I feel like that resonated with a lot of folks. The message of trying to be yourself and accepting yourself for who you are.”

Phoenix also went on to talk about the bad parts of pro-wrestling:

“I would say again — #1, injuries, and setbacks, and doubting myself. And dealing with dealing disorders, and unhealthily trying to change my body image. Also struggling with the sexuality aspect of wrestling for a long time. When I was an indie wrestler I didn’t wear makeup, I didn’t do my hair, I was just playing this character that I wanted to be, and I thought that was enough. And at the time I was trying to get into the business and get into WWE, there was an image to women that was heavily sexualized. And I kind of had to put that cape on, and play that character. And there was a lot of discomfort there for me for a long time. So I would say it was just kind of not being authentic with myself, and that was some of the ugly.”