Bianca Belair has emerged as a major force in WWE’s women’s division since joining the company.
Night One of WrestleMania 37 featured the main event, with Belair defeating Sasha Banks to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship in her first WrestleMania contest.
When Belair defeated Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship a year later, she made history as the first person to win a major championship from The Man in nearly three years.
Belair has come quite a long way, having battled an eating disorder and other mental health struggles which she spoke about this week.
The current Raw Women’s Champion sat down with Ariel Helwani to discuss her history with mental health issues, which began during her freshman year at the University of South Carolina.
“My freshman year, I just struggled so much mentally,” she explained (H/T Sescoops.com). “I was struggling with an eating disorder secretly in high school, so when I got to college I told myself ‘okay I’m not going to do this anymore. I’m gonna be healthy.”
Belair stated that she had moved to Texas A&M after her first year due to her ongoing mental health issues.
Bianca Belair Discloses Stay At Psychiatric Hospital
The Raw Women’s Champion thanked her coach at the time, Vince Anderson, for being a huge help when she was suffering, revealing she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital at the latter’s behest.
“I was put into a psychiatric hospital. It got that low… That’s when everyone found out,” she added. “He [Anderson] was the one, once I got out, who said ‘you can’t come back. “He made me go see a psychiatrist. He was like ‘you have to get yourself together mentally because that’s what is more important.”
Belair transferred to the University of Tennessee after her time at Texas A&M, but she was barred from participating in athletics there.
“I wasn’t allowed to compete for the team,” she noted. “But she [UofT coach Heather Van Norman] told me ‘I’ll train you for a whole year, even if you can’t contribute to the team.’ And she’s the person who really got me back on my feet.”
