WWE star Zelina Vega was one of the thousands of people to lose a family member on the September 11th attacks 17 years ago in New York City.
Vega was only 10-years-old at the time. She opened up on the matter in a recent interview with former WWE ring announcer Lillian Garcia on her podcast, “Chasing Glory.” Vega revealed her father was an amateur wrestler and was supportive of her dreams to follow in his footsteps:
“He took me to ECW and that scared the hell out of me as a kid,” Vega recalled.
Vega then revealed that her father was in the Twin Towers after they had been struck by hijacked aircraft in 2001. He worked on the 103rd floor above the impact zone. Vega’s father was able to phone home from inside the towers and speak to her mother and step-father. Vega, who stayed home from school that day, could overhear her father coughing, and the coughing getting louder and louder as time progressed.
She then overheard an emotional message her father delivered to her step-father, telling him to love his children as if they were his own:
“When he got onto the phone with my step-dad he said ‘honestly Kermit, I don’t think I’m going to make it out of here. I know you’re a great man I need you to be a father to my kids,” Vega said. “Love them like I would.”
H/T SEScoops for the transcriptions
