Natalya has reflected on the emotional and professional challenges she faced during WWE’s Divas Era, admitting she struggled with self-worth and pressure to meet unrealistic expectations. Appearing on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, the veteran Superstar also revealed the backstory behind one of the most infamous gimmicks of her career.
Natalya confessed that early in her career, she constantly compared herself to others and tried to fit the company’s physical ideals.
“It was so difficult because I realized that I couldn’t dance to save my life. I tried so, so hard,” she said. “I was like, I gotta try to lose weight. I gotta try to be thin. I gotta look like Torrie Wilson. I always had Torrie on this pedestal because she’s to me, I love her physique and she’s so beautiful. I was like, I always wanted to look like Torrie, but I couldn’t, because my body’s not like Torrie’s.”
Feeling like she didn’t fit the mold of a champion, Natalya decided to focus on elevating others in the ring.
“I realized that all these things that I thought that they wanted at that time, I was like, I know what they’ll like. What if I made every single girl I worked with look like gold? What if I was the, maybe not the star, but you know what I can do really well, I’ll be the star maker.”
That mindset, however, came at a personal cost.
“I started to look at myself the way that I felt like they were looking at me, where I was like, I don’t really know if I’m worthy of being the champion, I don’t think I am,” she admitted. “I started to almost talk myself into, ‘Do you know how lucky you are to even have this contract with WWE that so many people are fighting to even just get their foot in the door?’”
Her friend and fellow WWE legend Beth Phoenix played a crucial role in helping her rediscover confidence.
“Beth really urged me to fight. So I did, and I pled my case,” Natalya said. “I felt so embarrassed that I was trying to tell my bosses that I wanted to be champion when it’s like, no, we all should f***ing want to be champion.”
Natalya also addressed the notorious “flatulence” gimmick that became one of the most talked-about moments of her career. She revealed that the angle — which saw her character suffer from uncontrollable gas — was a Vince McMahon idea.
“I remember with that idea, when the writer came out of the production meeting, he pulled me aside, and he made it very clear this was not his idea,” she recalled. “He came out of the production meeting and he just kept saying over and over and over again, ‘This is not my idea, but this is Vince’s idea, and he really loves this idea.’”
McMahon reportedly wanted to make her character more “entertaining.”
“He liked to do things that were a lot about entertainment, and he wanted to do something. I think he saw me as being kind of a serious wrestler. So he’s like, let’s do something that’s gonna make Nattie entertaining. And it was this character, you know, eventually what I’m getting to is this Nattie Neidfart character.”
Despite her discomfort with the idea, Natalya agreed to go through with it to prove her professionalism.
“But I was like, I don’t want to fart. I just don’t want to do that,” she admitted. “But in true Natalya form, I smiled. I said, ‘Of course, I’ll do it. Not only will I do it, I’m going to make this amazing. I’m going to own it. I’m going to show Vince that I’m not going to be difficult like my dad. I’m going to go out there and I’m going to make it great.’”
The gimmick lasted roughly six weeks before fan reaction led creative to quietly drop the storyline.
Today, Natalya is one of WWE’s longest-tenured and most respected performers — but her candid reflection highlights the personal struggles many women faced during an era focused more on entertainment than athleticism.
