Paige has made a triumphant return to WWE following a year and a half off to lead the group of Absolution on WWE Raw.
After multiple suspensions, personal photo and video leaks, a tumultuous relationship and a neck surgery all while a movie is being made about her life, Paige has remained relatively silent.
The former WWE Diva's Champion spoke to Lilian Garcia for one of her first interviews since returning to WWE, or since being suspended in the first place. During Garcia's Chasing Glory Podcast, Paige remembers how she got involved with drugs and alcohol.
"My body was in pain. I was working so much, wrestling so much. I started drinking and putting on weight. I had a bunch of comments from people saying 'Paige got fat, Paige got this, Paige got that,' so I got depressed into that too. Two middle fingers up to the wall, I'm going to party, I'm going to do me. I'm young, I have money, I can do this kind of stuff. I literally had a 2005 Britney Spears meltdown. I got wrapped up in drinking and the party lifestyle," said Paige.
Paige would open up about the chain of events that led to her using drugs, in addition to getting suspended twice by WWE after wellness policy violations.
"I felt free, I felt like I was living a childhood I never had. There were all these stars I got to meet. Then I get in a relationship and it was an uphill battle with social media and our relationship. When my neck came along and I thought I was never going to wrestle again, that put me in a depression. I was in so much pain from my neck I was like 'this is fine, one more will be fine, I'm not addicted,' which I'm not, I stopped when I got completely humiliated online. I made the dumb mistake. I didn't even enjoy doing drugs. You just get caught up in this lifestyle. I'm not that person. Nobody held a gun to my head. I took it. I did the drug test and they popped it," Paige said.
Paige specified that her first wellness violation was due to her not taking the test in time, but the second test was a total failure. She also referenced the fact that she tried to pretend that the violation shouldn't have happened because she had a doctor's note.
"At that time I was very embarrassed, I was like 'I have to try to cover this up somehow.' I lied to my family about it, too. I try to come up with everything to make myself not look terrible. I built myself on being this role model...not this person running around doing drugs. I never wanted to be that person at all. WWE had to cover themselves because I said something completely inappropriate. I was never mad at WWE, it was the kick in the butt I needed," said Paige, before indicating that she should have been fired a long time ago.
WWE has provided Paige therapy, which she cites as a big help to her. Rosa Mendes also got Paige in touch with a WWE therapist after she also got sober.
You can hear Paige's full interview with Lilian Garcia at this link.
When using any quotes from this transcript, please credit Fightful.com.
