Sonya Deville

I look up to and have learned a lot from the women before me. With that said, there has never been a woman in this ring with the experience that I have in fighting.

My MMA background, I think, only enhances my experience on 'Tough Enough' or in the WWE in general.

I was in my junior year of high school and I had been playing soccer and basketball almost my entire life, and I wanted a change of pace. I wanted to do something more, something different. That's when I found an MMA gym about 45 minutes from my house and fell in love with the idea of becoming a professional fighter.

I've always been athletic my entire life and loved sports.

My life is amazing. I get paid to hurt people.

I think back to when I was in high school, to 17-year old Daria, who was dating guys and thought that that was the only way of life. I was very confused, and it was definitely manifesting itself in other parts of my life that were unhealthy.

It's not a good feeling to hide a huge part of your life. If you were meant to be somebody else, you'd be somebody else, so don't change who you are.

Until I came out publicly, I wasn't really living my fullest life. I was trying to be who I thought I was supposed to be, which never turns out good, and I wasn't fulfilled.

In sports, you deal with disappointment often, but it's how you handle it and come back from it that shapes you. All these lessons are transferable to life and have really helped me with the adversities I've had to deal with in life.

I think I was more just not comfortable with saying it. I was also in denial. I was like, 'I'm not gay, am I?' Cause I think, also the fact that I didn't fit the stereotypical mold of what a lesbian is supposed to be or act, I was just this girl that nobody would have expected.

Even prior to WWE, when I was bartending and training MMA, I always had a sense of fulfillment because although not my dream job, I took pride in being the best bartender I could be.

You can be happy with work, you can be happy in other facets of life, but if you're not happy in your personal life, and you're not loving open and honestly, it sucks.