Nia Jax Opens Up About Dealing With Body Shaming

Nia Jax isn’t like most girls. Her entrance music reminds us of that each and every week. But Nia is indeed a force to be reckoned with, and at WrestleMania 34 she will challenge Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship.

Jax recently spoke to The Mirror about her feud with Alexa Bliss, and she noted that some aspects of the storyline hit very close to home.

“Oh yeah. You know, growing up… it’s crazy how real this storyline is to my real life. And especially with Alexa being such a close, best friend of mine for so long, she has seen it. She [her character] has hurt me [my character], because I’ve confided in a lot of these stories that have happened to me. It surprises me that it has become such a big storyline in WWE, because it relates to me completely.”

“Growing up I was made fun of for always being bigger. I specifically remember, at one of my junior high basketball games, a man, a grown man was making fun of me and my size, as I was playing basketball. They didn’t realise that my Samoan father [Joseph Fanene, first cousin to Peter Maivia, grandfather of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson of the Anoaʻi family] was in the audience. And he, he err… beat the crap out of them, but that’s a whole ‘nother story! But yeah, that’s something I’ve dealt with my whole life, people making fun of me and my size. Everything from having a huge forehead, to the size of my feet, and not being able to wear the same size shoes as my friends, definitely.”

The number one contender for the Raw Women’s Championship went on to say that she’s honored to be part of the storyline, because it addresses a serious topic, and she hopes to inspire young men and women to stand up for themselves.

“I think it’s amazing. I think it’s something that people know but they don’t want to talk about it, they always want to keep it hidden. I feel like we’re tackling it head-on and it should be [tackled].”

Who will you be rooting for at WrestleMania 34, Nia Jax or Alexa Bliss? Sound off in the comments below.