Carmella Recalls Turning Down Reality Show, Navigating Her WWE Exit

The former Carmella recently reflected on how she navigated her exit from WWE, turning down a reality show offer and more. Leah Van Dale made an appearance on SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio and during the conversation she spoke about her exit from the company earlier this year and more. The show sent along some highlights of her talk with hosts Danny Murphy and Evan Real, and you can see them below:

On turning down a reality show offer: “So, we actually were approached a couple years ago. We used to have a podcast called Bear With Us, and it was just us just being ridiculous in our real life relationship and a company reached out to us, they wanted to do a reality show, so we had to go through WWE because we worked there. I mean, he still works there, but at the time I was there as well and they got involved and because they have to have creative control of everything, unfortunately we can’t just do something on the side if everyone knows us as Corey and Carmela, so they got involved and then we did a short YouTube series called Corey and Carmela, but it was just like, they were just trying so hard to force these storylines. It was so cheesy. It was so hokey. It was just so not us… It was more so following what they wanted us to do for these storylines, and it was just so not us and it was sort of an opportunity for us to kind of show who we were outside of Total Divas, outside of WWE, but it was just not authentic to us, so I would love the opportunity to show who we are now.”

On the Corey and Carmella show: “It was so hokey. You guys, they had us, we were moving and we had already moved into our new home and they like made us move everything out of the house to make it look like we just moved in and they had my brother-in-law had to carry a box of our stuff that was coming into the house. He was helping us move it in and all of these sex toys, quote unquote fell, and then there happened to be a cheese grater in the box with the sex toys. I’m like, ‘This is so embarrassing and so stupid. Do you think we were really have a cheese grater in the box with our sex toys?'”

On navigating her life out of WWE: “It was difficult, I guess, at first because I think it’s, I don’t want to really watch the show. I’m just so removed from it, but I’m so supportive of my husband. It’s been his dream his entire life to get into the WWE and he loves it, and so of course I’m so supportive of that, but I do feel like it’s helped us a lot to separate our real life from that world because for so long, for years, it was like we would take it home with us, we talk about it and it was just all consuming, so it’s kind of nice now to, he’s home, he can talk about whatever he needs to talk about and I understand it, because I was there. I get it, but then we can, ‘Okay, let’s stop talking about that,’ and we can move on to real life, which is great.”

On if others who had similar WWE exits reached out to her: “A lot of the women did reach out and whether they’re still there or they were there in the past, a lot of women did reach out and I’m so grateful for that. I just feel like when you’re there, you’re just in a bubble and you’re just kind of like, you’re in it and you don’t really think about anything else outside of it. Yeah, and I don’t blame anyone who’s still there, like they’re just doing their thing. That’s fine too. But that was my experience and all I can do is just move on and I’m moving on and up and just living my best life.”

On hoping that change happens as a result of her speaking up about it: “Exactly ’cause now it can’t happen. Although it did happen to someone else shortly after. My contract expired, another girl, her contract expired after she had a baby and didn’t give her the opportunity to come back, which sucks. It really sucks. It makes me feel bad that women can’t have a baby, and there have been a few, so I don’t, and so many people are coming after me. ‘There’s been so and so who’s come back,’ and yes, there have been women. There’s been a handful of women who have been under contract, had a baby, and gone back, but more often than not, it’s not happening. You have a baby, and then you stay home and that’s that, and you don’t get to go back.”

On her advice to women wrestlers that want to be mothers: “Make sure that you’ve done everything in your career in case you don’t get the opportunity to go back and that’s a real thing. That’s not me being dramatic and a lot of women have reached out and they’re like, ‘I’ve really been considering having a baby, but now your story’s making me second guess,’ and these are women who are there under contract now.”