NXT’s Shotzi Blackheart was the most recent guest on Lilian Garcia’s show, Chasing Glory. As with most Chasing Glory’s, Garcia tends to get to the raw emotions of her guests and Blackheart was no different. The year 2020 has been a difficult year for many, and during this year many people (both women and men) have come forward with their stories of sexual abuse from the Speaking Out movement.
The full interview can be viewed on the WWE Network.
Blackheart shares her story with Garcia and opens up in a way that can help many other victims. She discusses both the sexual abuse she had from her Uncle and how then when she was raped in high school.
“I had a pretty rough childhood, to be honest. I bounced around from, my mom’s to my dad’s and to my friend’s house at a real young age. I dealt with a lot of sexual abuse for like, years. When I finally came out about it – I came out to my middle school counselor – [my uncle] went to jail. He’s still in jail now. But when I came out about it, some of my family didn’t believe me. But my dad really helped me through it, and so did musical theater. That’s why I liked performing so much – it was a big outlet for me. That was my therapy.”
She continues, “I know that so many girls deal with this; it’s like a crazy amount. I encourage girls to come to me and talk about it because I’m so open with it.”
Blackheart further discusses how she had to go through a lot of therapy afterward and how it helped her to move forward. She then discusses the sexual abuse she has encountered didn’t end there. In high school, she was raped. Once she came forward about this encounter, she was mercilessly bullied and her peers did not believe her.
“I had fun in school, except for high school. High school was the worst. I was raped in high school during my freshman year. I told my best friend and she got me to come out about it, and everyone at school did not believe me. They just labeled me as a slut. They’d say, ‘She’s lying, she’s a skank.’
The bullying she received was so bad that she admits that she had to change schools half way through her freshman year.
“I’d come to school, and after one period, I would get bullied so much that I would just run back home. So, I had to change high schools halfway through my freshman year. I told myself that I didn’t want friends, I just wanted musical theater.”
Blackheart has been receiving a lot of attention in NXT lately. She is a weekly staple to the show and has hosted Halloween Havoc. They utilized her talent to announce TakeOver: WarGames which takes place on Dec. 6 where she will be a team captain. The other team with being captained by Candice LeRae.
She further adds during her interview that she would love a dream match against Mickie James and ultimately main event WrestleMania.
“Hmm, I mean, main event WrestleMania would be really awesome. Like, Mickie James! I’m obsessed with Mickie James. She’s the coolest!”
She appeared in this year’s Royal Rumble where she entered at the number 26 spot. She was eliminated by Shayna Baszler.
Credit to Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions to this article.
