AJ Lee Opens Up About Hiding Bipolar Diagnosis In WWE

WWE

AJ Lee has opened up about her bipolar diagnosis and opting not to tell anyone in WWE during her first run with the company.

Please note, this story contains references to sensitive issues including mental health and suicide.

Having returned to WWE earlier this year, AJ Lee would speak about her diagnosis in her 2017 autobiography, ‘Crazy Is My Superpower’.

Lee spoke about her diagnosis, including the decisions she made early in her WWE career, during a recent episode of What’s Your Story? with Stephanie McMahon.

Revealing that she was diagnosed in her late teenage years, AJ Lee would reveal that she chose to hide the details from WWE through fear of losing her job after revealing the triggers and challenges, saying:

AJ: “It is something often triggered by high-pressure situations, high stress. So I was really figuring it out from 19 years old to 24 sort of coming into wrestling strapped to a rocket. I went to NYU for four months, couldn’t afford it, had to leave. My dream was, I love writing, I went there for film and television production, couldn’t afford to do it, but I also loved wrestling, so I was like ‘ok, I’m gonna do wrestling now then’. Started the indie circuit, got signed by WWE two years into my indie run, and I was still dealing with this initial diagnosis I had just gotten.”

Steph: “When were you diagnosed?”

AJ: “When I was 19 years old I believe. Then I was signed when I was like 21. I didn’t have money for medicine, I didn’t have money for therapy, so I was just given this bomb, like ‘good luck.’”

Steph: “And it wasn’t talked about nearly as much, so there wasn’t as much information available.”

AJ: “Not at all. There was so much shame. I thought it could cost me my job if people found out about it. And so I never told anyone. I remember one person sort of had an inkling, and that was Kaitlyn.

“We would go to the gym or something and I was like: ‘I can’t leave the car’, and I just sat in the car and cried while she went to the gym and worked out.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

She would then go on to share how she felt she had to ‘suffer in silence’, only properly tackling the disorder after retiring in 2015, explaining:

“But you know, it was one of those things you had to kind of suffer in silence and figure out, and dealing with the high pressure of television, it was a lot all at once for a young person to sort of figure out.

“So I really started taking care of it once I was retired and getting on the right treatment, the right medication, the right plan for me.

Stephanie: “And you were misdiagnosed?”

“I was misdiagnosed with depression, which is very dangerous because if you ever need bipolar medication, medicine for depression sends you into an even worse depression. It can actually increase suicide ideation, and so that’s what happened to me. Almost lost my life, a few times and had to really fight to get the right package, the right treatment, the right course that worked for me.

“And then once I felt I had the right perspective on it and I was like ‘ok I think the worst days might be behind me’, I was wrong, but then I decided to talk about it because, again even if I lost everything and no one ever wanted to hire me again at least I could help make somebody feel less alone.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

AJ Lee returned to WWE on the Raw before Wrestlepalooza earlier this year and will next be in action at Survivor Series WarGames, following the events of the November 21 episode of SmackDown.

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