Lacey Evans was the guest on this week’s Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia podcast. During the incredible interview, the WWE star discussed her troubled upbringing, her strict lifestyle and how wrestling has been an escape for her.
Check out highlights below:
Transcription by WrestleZone.com Senior Editor Tyler Treese.
How she heard about wrestling:
I was in the Marine Corps and there was a Staff Sergeant stationed with me. Me and my husband went on a marriage retreat that’s offered by the military and that’s where we met him. At the time, I thought he did backyard wrestling. Now that I know more it’s indies. Me, my husband and my daughter went out to watch. Then I wanted to get in the ring. So, I trained with him for a week at the military base and we were the main event in [an indie show at Georgia].
Her debut match a week later:
We wrestled a 250-lb Staff Sergeant. When I want something, I go get it. I did high school wrestling. I was first in the state of Florida and ninth in the nation in folkstyle. Freestyle and folkstyle wrestling I did for years. We trained every day in the gym on Paris Island. That Saturday we put on a 10-minute match and I was hooked.
On why she wasn’t a wrestling fan growing up:
My life was very serious. I didn’t have time for fantasy. I didn’t watch movies or TV or anything else. It was always strict and business. I went to school, I did sports, I went to work. I joined the military. There was no time to watch. It was just a whole different world. I didn’t have that lifestyle. It was very strict and we didn’t fantasize about characters or TV … This is definitely a break from reality for me.
On why her childhood was so strict:
My parents were alcoholics. They drank. They did drugs and [had] depression. You can’t blame them. They’ve been through a lot of things in their life and it just caught up to them. My dad started a construction company. There were times that they had all the money in the world. Then there were drugs, depression, suicide, and it just absorbed all of my family. So much so that from a very young age the life I didn’t want. They tried the best they could but the drugs won. The depression won. That’s what I was left with and why I based everything I’ve done [with] my lifestyle. I’ve never done a drug. I don’t drink. I refuse to alter my mind in any way.
Check out the full podcast for much more from Evans.
