Charlotte Flair Opens Up About Difficulties Coping W/ Her Brother's Passing, Surviving Domestic Abuse, & Her Feud W/ Becky Lynch

Seven time world champion Charlotte Flair was today’s guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia and gave a reflective and deeply personal interview. Charlotte opened up to host Lilian Garcia about a number of topics including the upcoming WWE Super Show-Down, her current feud with former best friend Becky Lynch, her life after domestic abuse, her struggles coping with her brother Reid’s passing, and much more.

Highlights of her interview appear below.

On WWE Super Show-Down Being Like A Second WrestleMania:

What makes it so exciting is having both RAW and Smackdown and knowing that it’s gonna be between 60 and 70,000 people, so it’s almost like another WrestleMania.

On Her Current Feud With Becky Lynch:

Anytime you can find yourself in a meaningful story line, you run with it. It’s the first time, I think, in awhile for me that – I’ve been in so many great story lines; but, the fans are really sinking their teeth into this one and you just run with it and you see how far you can take it and it’s exciting It’s fresh. It’s new and even though Becky and I have had the opportunity to wrestle each other, this time the dynamic is different, which makes it even more exciting.

On Whether The Feud With Becky Lynch Is Difficult Due To Their Friendship:

No, you hit your friends harder. No, I mean that in a [inaudible] sense. Becky and I came up through NXT together, so in terms of how we view how things should be in the ring and psychology and I know what she does well, she knows what I do well because we’ve talked about it in the car, so, no, I think it just makes for a better overall presentation.

On How Receiving A Negative Crowd Reaction Makes Her Feel:

Honestly, if I wasn’t getting a reaction, we’d have a problem. Whether you’re being cheered or booed, you’re here to make the audience react and that’s how I look at it. I don’t look at it as a negative. I look at it as if the fans are invested in a story.

On A New Dynamic In Their Feud:

The newest story line with Becky, I feel, is a brand new challenge, a brand new place for my character where I have to overcome things and it’s a challenge and it’s a good challenge because it will create layers. It’s a new dynamic. I was always the bad guy and she was the good guy. Now that I’m the good guy and she’s the bad guy it’s learning how to be the good guy. It’s not harder for me as a person. I think it’s harder for people to accept me as the good guy because I’ve had so much success.

On The ESPN Body Issue:

I never thought in a million years that if I put on a piece of paper that I’d want to be in the Body Issue and that I was gonna go to ESPN and pitch why they should use a female Superstar from WWE as the first ever wrestler, I never thought it would happen; but, it was the fact that I wrote it down. I went after it. I wasn’t scared to go for it, even if they shut me down. It just kept the ball rolling in every aspect of my career. For me it was important because – it was the 10th issue – but what I loved about it over the years, is it was showing a different side of athletes, men and women, in an athletic way and that could be sexy and people could admire their figures for uniqueness and because I’m not built like a lot of the girls and I come from sports it was so fitting and being in the issue was also another reason why the Women’s Evolution is such a big deal and it’s actually becoming mainstream for us.

On Whether Posing Nude For The Body Issue Was Uncomfortable For Her:

Oh yeah, absolutely. It was a testament to what the Women’s Division has created and the fact that they’re actually looking at us as legitimate athletes and that’s what it’s all about for me. They take athletes from every sport and the fact that they considered WWE’s Women’s Division athletic enough or they were actually acknowledging our athleticism and to have one of us in the issue that speaks volumes of how far we come.

On Her Struggles Coping With Her Brother Reid’s Passing:

Maybe I get a little bit depressed, if my routine is off just because I’m not doing the typical things that keep my mind on track or keeps me, I guess, focused. What I find is when I am off of my routine or when I do have down time, I find it very hard to still cope with losing my brother. Even though that’s been five years, I don’t know if that’s something I’ve never dealt with because I went back to work a week later. So, that’s why, maybe, I don’t like down time because I just can’t emotionally deal with it. I know that sounds terrible; but, he’s my drive for everything.

On Striving To Be Better:

It’s not that I go, ‘Gosh, I’m satisfied.’ I just go, ‘I want more, it’s not good enough.’ Not good enough as in my performance, going, ‘Gosh, if I can obtain that, I wonder what I could do the next year and the next year.’ It’s not a negative thing. It’s just saying, ‘Wow, at one point I thought these things were unattainable; but, they’re not.’ Not being scared to fail and going for something, I think wold be the bigger issue, is it’s OK to fail. That’s how you learn; but, by saying it’s not enough, it’s more like wow, we debuted on the main roster, now let’s win a championship. I won a championship, let’s main event a pay-per-view. We main evented a pay-per-view, let’s main event Hell In A Cell. Let’s steal the show at WrestleMania. Let’s win both titles. It’s like Ok, I got here, how far can I go? My whole thing is I just always want to get better. I want to evolve and I’m not someone that goes, ‘I know it all or I have nothing else to learn.’ I still feel like I have so much to learn.

On Her Own Personal Struggles In Comparison With Becky Lynch’s:

For one, I think Becky, I mean I could not be more ecstatic for her and how much she deserves this and I’m so excited to see where this goes for her; but, her struggle was the underdog. Everyone has their own struggles. I just don’t think mine was as obvious and our struggles were different. My struggles are having to not be in a shadow as far as my dad, continuing a legacy and how do you do that while coming into your own and the pressure that goes along with that and continuously being compared to that no matter what you do? How do you get out of that? Even though my struggles weren’t as an underdog; but, they were definitely there in different forms and I think that’s what people don’t understand.

On Surviving Domestic Abuse & How It’s Changed Her Life:

I will never settle. I will never be complacent. That’s why I’m still single. I know what I want and right now I want to be on top of the world in WWE and that’s all that I’m focused on.

On Whether There’s Room In Her Life For A Relationship:

I’m working on the one with myself and I think when I can come to terms with exactly who I am and want to be, whether it’s having a better inner dialogue everyday, I’m not gonna let anything distract me. I feel like I am ready; but, at the same time nothing has – right now I have so many goals. I want to show the world at Evolution that there’s only one Queen. I want to main event WrestleMania. I want to see how far I can take this career and if a man comes into my life, he does or he doesn’t; but, I will tell you this, I’m not settling. I’m enjoying this time focusing on myself and my career and who knows what’s next?

On Her Career Goals:

One of my goals is (laughter), I really want a Ben & Jerry’s flavor, a Woo-Licious. It sounds so ridiculous (laughter). If I keep liking every single flavor on their Twitter handle, will they get the hint? I see Flair-licious. I see Woo-Licious. I’d really like to get my first name on the carton (laughter); but, I just don’t know how. Charlotte’s Web-Licious (laughter)? I don’t know. Some of my goals aren’t even wrestling related. I just want to continue to grow as a person….and I do want to fall in love. I’m a hopeless romantic; but, I have fallen in love with my wrestling boots right now. They’re what’s changing my world…..The Birdie Bee line by the Bellas? I love it and I want a line of something, so I just have all these thoughts and is that possible one day? Is something like that possible?…I’m really searching for something that I am that passionate about in order to produce. You just can’t say, ‘I want to sell this because of X,Y,Z.’ You’re very good at podcasts because you’re interested in the individual and telling their story. I’m looking for that one thing that I’m as passionate about to do as well. It might just be coaching at the PC. Who knows?

(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, WrestleZone)

Readers interested in listening to Lilian Garcia’s interview with Charlotte Flair in its entirety may do so below: