Sonya Deville reflects on coming out on national television.
Back when Deville featured on Tough Enough, during one segment of the show, Sonya was asked if she was single, which she replied that she had a girlfriend. Following her time on the show, Sonya would become a staple of WWE's women's division, becoming the first openly gay woman in WWE.
While speaking on Talking With Natasha for a recent interview, Sonya reflected on the moment, declaring it a 'happy accident.'
"It was like a big accident. It's a really funny story. It's a happy accident. So I was on Tough Enough, the reality show. The first episode of that show was like the tryouts for the show. So they showed like all the competitors trying out to be on the show. Part of the tryout was an in-ring interview, essentially, with Triple H, the big boss, and a couple other corporate executives. You're just in the ring. They told you to wear a bathing suit. I'm looking around. My wife laughs at this, too. I'm looking around at all these girls, and they all come from bikini world champions and swimsuit models. They're all in G-string bikinis. I didn't get the memo and I'm in a billabong bikini. They all were in like stilettos and I wore a wedge, like a Sam Edelman wedge. Okay. Got it. I just, I didn't look like the others. I didn't really fit in with the rest. So here I am in all my glory in a bathing suit, standing in the middle of the ring. If you look back at the video of it, it's really funny, cause I don't even know how to like stand in a bathing suit. I'm like legs, like wide apart. Triple H, one of his first questions he asked me, which would be like a pretty standard reality TV show question, 'are you in a relationship? Are you single?' They're trying to get to know the contestants. But for me, it was a loaded question because I had a girlfriend and I was not out at the time. And so I kind of just froze and was like, 'I have a girlfriend, but she's not my wife yet.' Like, I just got nervous and said like a really weird answer and he starts laughing and he's like, 'did you just come out on national television?' I was like, 'Uh, I guess so. Then I had to like rush backstage to call my girlfriend at the time. Cause she wasn't even out to her parents and her mom was like onto us, but we were trying to deny it to her. Cause she was not okay with it. So I had to call her and be like, 'I'm so sorry.' But if your mom's watching, cause her mom knew like, 'Oh, her friend Daria was on this show and she was watching to support her friend.' But now I just said on the show that she's my girlfriend, which is, and I said her name. So like she's just, yeah, she's done for. It is so confirmed. So I felt so bad. So I called her. 'She's like, no, it's okay.' Like it was meant to be that way. That was 10 years ago. So that's my coming out."
Sonya recently revealed the talent she's had the most fun working with. You can read more about that here.
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