Sonya Deville Discusses Coming Out On Tough Enough

– Sonya Deville recently spoke to Yahoo Sports where she discussed coming out on national television on Tough Enough and more. Highlights from the interview are below.

On Coming Out On Tough Enough: “When that organic moment played out on television where Triple H asked if I was in a relationship, I literally didn’t know what to say, I wasn’t prepared for it. At that point in my life sometimes when people would ask me if I had a boyfriend, I would just say ‘oh, no,’ but never say that I had a girlfriend. I wasn’t that comfortable with talking about it at that point. I couldn’t lie on national television and I couldn’t face my girlfriend and say ‘Oh, I lied about you and pretended like I didn’t have a significant other,’ so I was just honest.”

On Being A Role Model In The LGBTQ Community: ““I [still] don’t think of myself as a role model, but obviously being in the business that I’m in and having the platform that I’m blessed to have, guys and girls do look up to us. I do feel pressure, but I put it on myself because I want to represent the LGBTQ community in a place where they’ve never really been represented that much, being the WWE and professional wrestling in general. I take that personal responsibility to be the voice for them because I remember being the kid that didn’t have a voice or platform to speak.”

On The Support In The Locker Room: “Everyone from the locker room to the staff to the producers to the writers, they are all super supportive. We did something super cool for Pride the other day and I was told to ask whoever I thought was an ally and rally them to participate in this event and not one person said no. It’s a super supportive environment, and I know it wasn’t always this way. I’m super excited to see the progress, support and positivity, because it’s contagious. I want to be that kind of light in my profession and locker room.”