Matt Hardy was today’s guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia. Hardy opened up to host Lilian Garcia about a number of topics including his childhood with brother Jeff Hardy, his marriage to Reby Hardy, and his struggles with addiction.
(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, WrestleZone)
On The WWE Network Documentary:
I try to be very hands on whenever I’m gonna be in the process of creating content that I’m involved in and I try to be very hands on in that. The Network people, I know they wanted 100%. I was probably worried about the powers to be, say like a Vince McMahon or a Kevin Dunn….I wanted to be as accurate as possible. I told Jeff [Hardy], years back once we were both in good places and getting better. I said, ‘Man, if we ever tell our story, the place we should tell our story is on WWE television or WWE Network because that’s the platform it deserves to be told on. So, if we ever tell it there, we need to go all out and don’t hold anything back.’ That’s what we wanted to do. We were allowed to do it. I know Kevin Dunn from speaking to him and talking to some of the Network guys, I know that he was a little hesitant at first about putting some of this raw content out there that was so dark and so uncomfortable, but eventually he did and the feedback to that special was off the charts.
On Advice He Gives To Those Who Struggle:
The biggest thing I can say to all people is if you can hang in there, if you can keep your chin up and keep moving forward in a positive direction, it will always get better. You have to want it. You have to want to get better and you have to want to get to a better place and you can always come back. You can always change and every day is a new day and it gives you an opportunity to change and be a better person.
On Growing Up With His Brother Jeff Hardy:
I cherished my relationship with my brother and I loved it. We were best friends.
On How Having A Child Changed His Life:
The ultimate topper for me was having kids. When I first had my oldest son Maxel, there was finally something in this world, in this life, that was more important than me. I can’t tell you anytime in the past, even with my brother, if they were like, ‘OK, hold up, one of you have to go and you’re not gonna be on this planet anymore. One of you have to go.’ It’s like part of you wants to go, ‘I want to stay,’ but if it’s with your kid and you legitimately have that bond and love your kid and they said, ‘OK, well it’s you or one of your sons,’ I go, ‘Take me.’ To have something more important than you, is something that changes your perspective on everything.
On His Mother’s Passing From Cancer:
I remember my mom being sick and from the time she was diagnosed with cancer, she lived almost a year to the day, but she went through a lot of tough treatments after surgery, of chemotherapy and radiation. I just remember her hair falling out and I know that bothered her so bad and having a wig and feeling uncomfortable going in public, whenever we did. I remember being extremely sad. Extremely sad. I remember when she eventually did get sick and died, I say this to this day, I never thought she would pass away. I was just like, ‘Well, I’m just a kid. My mom can’t leave.’ I couldn’t even fathom that it was an option that was gonna happen. I remember when she did. Myself, my brother, my dad – we were all there and I remember hearing [heart monitor flat lining]. I remember that like it was yesterday and I remember too, it was the first time I’d ever seen my dad cry and we were all sad and all right there with her. Looking back in hindsight, I’m so blessed and lucky that we were there to have that final moment with her. I feel that gives you some kind of closure at least, but I remember my dad saying, ‘Boys, boys, we gotta be strong. We gotta pick up and move on because that’s what your mom would want.’ He was right. It was hard to fathom or understand or assimilate that kind of information when you’re as young as Jeff and I were. He was right. That’s kind of the story of life. Life has ups and downs and there’s gonna be good and bad things and really, a lot of the battles in life are won just by how you react to things because there’s gonna be bad things that happen. You just can’t let that be the end all be all.
On Crediting His Wife Reby For Helping Him Through His Darkest Days:
When I was going through my darkest days, she was the one where other people probably wouldn’t have, she didn’t care about any wrestler or any level of fame. None of that makes any difference at all. She could care less. Everybody to her is just like a person. When I was going through my darkest days, she stayed on my ass all the time about stuff and for that, I will always love her and I’ll always appreciate her. It’s a debt I’ll always [unintelligible] because not a lot of people would. Some people would either get frustrated and leave, but she was there….she was on it. She staid on my ass the whole while and that helped me get through those days. She was heavily responsible for that. That’s one of those things, looking back in hindsight, if I didn’t have a personality as strong and as powerful and as truculent as her, I don’t know if I would have made it through in the same way.
