Entertainment
WWE star Roxanne Perez hopes sharing her real life anxiety battle can ‘change people’s lives’-Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro
The 21-year-old star used her real life struggles to inspire her recent storyline.
Roxanne Perez has reflected on the significant storyline (Picture: WWE)
Roxanne Perez is hoping she helped fans realise they are ‘not alone’ by opening up about her own mental health struggles.
Earlier this year, the 21-year-old WWE star was seen ‘collapsing’ on screen following her NXT Women’s Championship win over Meiko Satomura, and on a later episode the storyline fall was blamed on exhaustion and crippling anxiety.
Reflecting on the decision to highlight such issues, Roxanne exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘It’s so cool. I’ve always wanted to bring mental health into wrestling somehow and never thought it was possible.
‘It’s really cool to be able to change people’s lives. I feel like that’s the most important thing that I’ve always wanted to do.
‘If I can be that voice that helps someone else know that they’re not alone, then that means the world to me.’
The rising star fought through her on-screen issues, and she reflected on the way her family helped her through her real life struggle with mental health.
Roxanne ‘collapsed’ on air at NXT Roadblock earlier this year (Picture: WWE)
She said: ‘Mental health is so important to me in my family, I’ve struggled with it, some of my family have struggled with it. It’s always been easy for me to talk about it because my family’s made it okay for me to talk about it.
‘I know that it’s not like that for everybody. It was really special for me to be able to talk about that. I kind of have been wanting to do it for a while, so for them to finally let me do it, it’s awesome.’
Indeed, Roxanne explained that as soon as she signed with NXT last year, she was urging bosses including WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels to let her highlight mental health issues on screen.
‘Just talking about mental health at least, that was something when I first got to NXT and told them, I would love to do something with this. They were loke, “Alright, we’ll see,”‘ she laughed.
The significance of getting to do so isn’t lost on Roxanne, who knows the impact it could have for youngsters seeing a WWE superstar showing vulnerability in that way.
She said: ‘I feel like if I would’ve seen what I spoke about as a kid, that would have changed my life.’
Roxanne was inspired by former Divas Champion AJ Lee (Picture: WWE)
The former NXT Women’s Champion has ‘always’ wanted to become a WWE superstar, and she can still remember falling in love with the business after discovering wrestling through Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and instantly falling in love with this world.
‘At first it was actually The Rock. I remember turning on the TV and seeing him. I already knew who he was about of Hollywood and movies and what not. I was like, “Wow, this is pretty crazy,”‘ she recalled. ‘How electrifying he was, I was like, wow, I want to do that!’
Later, it was former Divas Champion AJ Lee who really inspired her to chase her dream as Roxanne saw someone who looked like her and gave her someone to ‘relate’ to.
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‘At the time, you saw Kelly Kelly – and she’s so amazing, but I couldn’t relate because I don’t look like her. To see someone like AJ Lee where she’s a tom boy, she was a fan, she was Latina, she was small,’ she smiled.
‘That really related to me so much, and it helped me believe, “OK, I could really do this, I could be a WWE superstar.” ‘
WWE NXT airs Tuesday nights at 1am on BT Sport 1. Watch NXT Battleground on May 28 at 1am on the WWE Network.
What is anxiety?
According to the NHS, anxiety is the main symptom of several conditions, which includes:
Panic disorder
Phobias, such as agoraphobia or claustrophobia
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
The most common is generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), which is a long-term condition that causes you to feel regularly anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than one specific event. It’s estimated 5% of the UK population is affected by GAD.
Symptoms of GAD include:
Feeling restless or worried
Having trouble concentrating or sleeping
Dizziness or heart palpitations
People are advised to seek professional advice from a doctor if anxiety is affecting daily life or causing distress.
Treatment for GAD ranges from psychological therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, as well as prescription medicine.
There are also various self-help actions the NHS suggests, including:
Going on a self-help course
Exercising regularly
Stopping smoking
Cutting down on the amount of alcohol and caffeine you drink
Trying 1 of the mental health apps and tools in the NHS Apps Library
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