Alexa Bliss was recently a guest on The Cheap Heat Podcast where she spoke on a wide variety of topics. One of the topics was about her storyline with Nia Jax, where Alexa has body shamed Nia about her weight. Below are some quotes from the interview:
Alexa on playing a character who uses body shaming as a heel:
“The reason that I have chosen to take it this far with it is because these are real situations. These things happen. I have lived through it. To be able to make this story as real as possible you have to commit to it. I remember speaking to Nia Jax before WrestleMania. We both wanted to make this story mean something because we both have had our body issues and we both have had this idea of wanting to portray body images to people. The thing is you have to commit to that and that is why I was able to get Alexa Bliss’s character into this deeper level where people say that I am rude. If that is what it takes to make this story have meaning and have an investment because we care so much about this issue that we wanted to make it as real as possible to show that this really happens. In the end, the good guy will prevail which is what happened at WrestleMania.”
Alexa on her not condoning bullying or body shaming:
“Obviously, I don’t really feel this way about the bullying and the body shaming. Because I have had it done to me but I have to be every girl that I went to school with that will body shame you and make your life miserable. I had to have everything inside of me to do it. At one point I had to visualize these girls that I went to school with like when Mickie [James] and I were in the locker room. That moment I was sitting in that locker room and just sitting there visualizing some of the girls that I went to high school with and seeing their faces and portraying them. It was the craziest thing, but this was the one storyline that I definitely had the most fun with because it was something we both cared about so much.”
On the fan backlash that she has received for playing a bully:
“It’s hit or miss. There are times that I see comments on Instagram and Twitter — if you are bashing my character on television that is fine. I am totally cool with that, I’m a bad guy for a reason. You are supposed to hate me, but when you disrespect me or my work or myself as a character as me personally that is not okay. Because what we do with WWE we are here to put smiles on people’s faces. We are not here to have you judge us as people. I always say, ‘would you go up to someone you see at an airport who portrays a bad guy on a soap opera?’ Would you disrespect them as a person? No, you would say that I don’t like your character on television, but not at them personally. That is one of the things that bothers me personally. When they realize that when someone is mad at me, I am doing a good job portraying my character.”
Speaking of Alexa, she recently shared some kind words for a young fan battling an eating disorder. You can check that out here.