Triple H On Why Roman Reigns Didn’t Want People To Know About His First Battle With Leukemia

On Monday night Roman Reigns told the fans at the beginning of Raw that he was diagnosed with leukemia 11 years ago, and he beat it, but it’s back.

Many fans were shocked to find out that Roman had been dealing with the disease for so many years, as it’s not something that was put in the spotlight on WWE programming.

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were guests on Elvis Duran & The Morning Show, and Triple H talked about why Roman didn’t want people to know about his history with leukemia (via WrestleZone).

“This is something that—very few people know about this—he and I have spoken about this; this is something he did not want to put out there until he had reached a certain point in time in his career because he didn’t want people to feel like he was being pitied or given things for a certain reason. He wanted to be able to come out at the end and be like ‘Look, I dealt with this the whole time, you can do anything. This is not an end sentence.’”

“As we talked about it on Monday—he and I—life’s what happens when you’re busy making plans. The rest of the stuff happens, and it didn’t work out the way he thought it would, here it is back, but he realized now was the time to spread that message and tell people. He’s going to fight this, and he’s going to win. He’ll be back stronger than ever, and I think it’s just a matter of time. He’s an incredibly strong human being, and I have so much respect for him for just—that’s a very private thing, to be able to come out when your image and what you do and everything about you is tough and everything else—to come out and go look I’m flawed, I’m fragile and I have this problem. It’s a really difficult thing, and to be able to stand up, not for yourself, but for others.”

The full episode can be heard below.