Kaitlyn opened up to TMZ Inside the Ring about leaving WWE with two years left on her contract, being unwelcome in the main roster locker room, Vince McMahon breaking his promise about Total Divas, and why she is now open to a return for the first time.
Open To A WWE Return
Kaitlyn, whose real name is Celeste Bonin, said she is 39 and in the best shape of her life, and that for the first time since leaving in 2014 she genuinely feels ready to return.
“I’m 39 now, be 40 in a few months, and I’m at the top of my game. I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. My body feels great. I’m more confident in who I am, my voice than ever before. I’m open to it.”
She said past interview questions about a comeback always triggered internal hesitation because she had not yet processed her WWE experience. That has changed. “I’m such an evolved person versus who I was then, and I just have such a deeper understanding of what pro wrestling is, and the artistry of it, and the connection with the fans. I think it would make a lot of sense, and I feel like I would do great.”
Why She Left With Two Years Left On Her Contract
Kaitlyn won the Divas Championship in January 2013 and asked for her release with two years remaining on her contract, a decision she described as coming from a complete mental and emotional breakdown under the pressure of the spotlight.
“I was struggling. I was folding under the pressure of show business and adrenaline, and the emotional roller coaster, and that lifestyle. I didn’t have tools to process what I was going through, and I didn’t know how to talk about it.”
She revealed she was at the heaviest weight of her life when she walked away. “By the time that I asked for my release, I was 30 pounds heavier than I am now. I was at my heaviest I’ve ever been in my life, which is 170 pounds. The weight was like a metaphor for the pressure and the emotional weight that I was carrying that I didn’t know how to process.”
She said the decision left her without a plan and with a deep sense of failure she has spent years working through. “I was a mess. I was an absolute mess. For a long time, I felt like a failure, which is crazy to a lot of people, but it’s just how I felt. I felt like I could have done so much more with that opportunity on a global stage.”
The Locker Room
Kaitlyn said she experienced more pressure backstage than she ever did performing in front of live audiences. “I felt more pressure backstage than I ever did in the ring on television, in front of 4,000 people live and millions of people at home.”
When she moved from NXT to the main roster, the transition into the women’s locker room was hostile. “Some of the top women that were there did not like that. They were not welcoming.” She was specific about who stood out in a positive way. “There were the women like Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, and Natalya, who were so kind and truly mentors in so many ways.”
She also revealed that NXT talent were kept in a separate room away from the main women’s locker room entirely.
Vince’s Total Divas Promise
Kaitlyn said Vince McMahon personally promised the women’s division that Total Divas would have no influence on storylines, and that the promise was broken almost immediately.
“Vince promised us, promised the women’s division, Total Divas is not going to have any influence on storylines. And then WrestleMania comes around, and that’s when they were debuting the show, and it literally took the place of a women’s title match on WrestleMania. So it was kind of like it set the tone for it.”
She was the Divas Champion at WrestleMania 29 and was not on the card. “I had the title, and I was not on the show. I’ve actually never been on a WrestleMania. The year that I had the women’s title.” The experience contributed to her spiral. “I was just like, okay, the title doesn’t mean anything. Like, I don’t mean anything.”
AJ Lee
Kaitlyn described her feud and friendship with AJ Lee as the defining relationship of her career, saying AJ called her the day she got the news she would debut on live television after only a few weeks in developmental.
“I was terrified. I called her, and she was like, ‘You’ll be okay. I got you.’ She was always there for me, and I was always there for her, especially when stuff was really challenging.”
She said the match where she lost the title to AJ at a Chicago pay-per-view was her favorite of her career. “It was the pinnacle of storytelling. AJ had literally wanted to win the title since she was a child. Because her and I were so close, and we had really lifted and elevated each other, and also picked each other up off the ground when things were really hard, we had both worked so hard for that. The most magical moments of my career were after I lost the title.”
The two remain in contact. Kaitlyn flew to Chicago to attend CM Punk’s second UFC fight with AJ. “She’ll always be my friend, and she’ll always have a special place in my heart.”
New Project
Kaitlyn is launching a subscription wellness channel called Flex with Celeste this summer on FanView, a platform she described as similar to OnlyFans but without the stigma. The channel will feature stretching, mobility, meditation, and movement content. She said it will launch in approximately July and details are available on her Instagram.
If you use quotes from this article, please credit TMZ Inside the Ring with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
