Lana, aka CJ Perry, appeared on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet this week for an extended sit-down interview.
While on the popular program, the women’s wrestling star spoke about dealing with mental health issues, as well as the current status of her relationship with Rusev.
The following are some of the highlights.
On being shocked by her past WWE release: “I was shocked. I was on television and in big, big storylines the whole time. Had a great relationship with Bruce and Vince, everyone. I was devastated. But now looking back, I’m thankful, because that’s life, and sometimes our hardest moments is our moments that teach us. Now looking back, I realize, not in a mean way, but nothing’s guaranteed in life. We can’t compare ourselves to other people, because we all have a different journey. And also, we don’t live forever, so everything has to come to an end, so let’s focus on all the great things I was able to have, versus it may be finishing too soon.”
On her relationship with Rusev: “Things are really good [now]. He did file for divorce. We were very much like on, off, on, off for about a year before that [the separation], got separated and almost divorced several times before that. Yeah, the story on my podcast is true, according to me, he served divorce papers. Wanted them to get to me on my birthday, for whatever reason. I know it sounds so insane. I don’t know what I did to my brain, the kind of the whole time I thought he was doing a storyline or something. I know that sounds so weird, like, now looking back, I’m like, I think I did that to protect myself, like, oh, he doesn’t mean this. He doesn’t mean this, he just wants to be separated. That was really hard for me, but it was one of the greatest moments of my life, because that was when I really cut myself off from the world. It was right after I got released from AEW, so it was like divorce papers, AEW release all in like a week. That was really hard because I felt like and me, Miro even talked about that, even if we got divorced, we want to work together still. So he had gone to Bulgaria. I was waiting for him to come back, and I was like, okay, I love Miro. He’s my family. Even if we maybe at different moments, didn’t see eye to eye, we weren’t on the same page. We wanted different things there for a moment, we still had incredible love for each other, because I don’t know, we’re family, we’re best friends. We wanted to work together regardless. So Miro was really unhappy too when I got released, because he was also looking at AEW as like, take care of my wife, you know, ex-wife. So it got really complicated, but everything happens for a reason, and that’s when I decided to take time off and not do any anything in wrestling. I wanted to go into the indie scene because I love wrestling, but I just felt like I needed to focus on my mental health and my health. And that was when severe change started.”
On what that looked like for her: “So when I got the papers, I literally couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks. I Then finally, I was watching Jay Shetty again, and Jay Shetty is like, if you’re depressed, change your music, get outside in the sun for 15 minutes, take a walk, maybe move, if you can, be around new people. I literally did all of that, besides moving, I got out of bed, I started walking every single day for 30 minutes in the morning, and that already helped my mood. That already helped me become happier. I just think when I really focused on wellness, like going to therapy, acupuncture, working out better, eating very organic food, taking more vitamins, and then, just like really pushing myself to have an active life in nature, like go to the beach, go hiking, get into nature, that really helped me get so much happier. I also got sober. I stopped drinking. That was a huge part. I was prescribed prescriptions for my ADHD, and I had to come off of that. That was also a really big change. It’s hard for me to read. I’m very dyslexic, so I do have other challenges, not having medication, but my happiness and my well-being and my relationships are so much better now.”
On signing a WWE Legends deal: “I’m still processing it. It’s funny, because I would say it’s been kind of controversial. One of the biggest things that I had on my podcast last week was announcing that I’m a WWE legend, and you thought I stole their Christmas presents or something, people were so mad. People were like, it’s a stretch, and they’re fighting, and then other fans are coming in and defending me. So I just want to acknowledge I understand, I was that shocked too. I absolutely understand that there’s a huge difference between the character Lana and Randy Savage on the legend scale. I get it, but this is what WWE calls their contracts, being a full WWE superstar. My agent called me. I was crying. I was shocked. Yeah, they gave Miro a contract, and they gave me the WWE legend contract at the same time.”
