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SiriusXM issued the following:
Leah Van Dale recently appeared on SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio.
While talking to Page Six Radio hosts Danny Murphy and Evan Real, Leah Van Dale opened up about her WWE exit and gave career advice to female wrestlers who are thinking about becoming mothers. She also discussed balancing life in and out of WWE and revealed that she and her husband Corey Graves turned down a reality TV show.
SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio, is hosted by Page Six’s Danny Murphy, Evan Real and editor Ian Mohr. Page Six Radio on SiriusXM’s Stars (ch.109) airs daily from 8:00 am to 10:00 am ET and anytime on the SiriusXM app.
Why Leah Van Dale Turned Down Her Own Reality Show
Evan Real: Have you and Corey, your husband, Corey Graves, who's also a WWE Star, and you mentioned reality TV and you're a fan. Have you and Corey ever thought about, have you been approached to do reality TV? Would you want to be in a reality TV show together that follows your real lives?
Leah Van Dale: 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.
Danny Murphy: The WWE was, or the production company?
Evan Real: A combination of both. Okay.
Leah Van Dale: 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.
Danny Murphy: Now do you kind of feel, 'cause like from that interpretation, did you kind of feel like you were guys were approached with this amazing opportunity and WWE was like, "Great, let's have an eight-episode commercial." Love that for you.
Leah Van Dale: Yes. Exactly. Love that for me. That's so real and so realistic. I mean, reality TV.
Danny Murphy: You wake up in your uniform. Yeah.
Leah Van Dale: 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?"
Evan Real: When they fell out, was it a surprise to you, or did you know-
Leah Van Dale: And then we're gonna be like, "Oh my god. Parmigiano Reggiano."
Evan Real: So, you knew that it was gonna happen. That's so funny.
Leah Van Dale: It was so cheesy.
Leah Van Dale on Balancing Life In & Out of the WWE
Evan Real: Corey must be very proud of this new endeavor and it's so interesting how he is still involved in the WWE.
Leah Van Dale: He's still with the WWE. Yes.
Evan Real: And you're very much not. How do you sort of like reconcile your two very different experiences with that organization because your departure was different, we can say. I mean, what is it like navigating that together?
Leah Van Dale: 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.
Leah Van Dale on WWE Exit
Evan Real: I loved how open and honest you were about not only what you went through with your pregnancy and your injury, but also how everything went down between you and the WWE and I'm just curious, did anybody else who went through contract situations like that from the past reach out to you after that?
Leah Van Dale: 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.
Evan Real: Yes, and by like speaking out about it and being honest and transparent, like hopefully change will come.
Leah Van Dale: 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.
Danny Murphy: And they're just like, "Goodbye. See you later." Yeah.
Leah Van Dale’s Career Advice to Women Wrestlers That Want to Be Mothers
https://youtube.com/shorts/SjDIF5F08sw?feature=share
Evan Real: What advice would you give women in the WWE who are thinking about starting a family?
Leah Van Dale: 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.
Danny Murphy: And also, 'cause I remember you were with Tamron too. You were talking about like, you were even volunteering or offering to be like, "I'll come back as a manager, I'll come back."
Leah Van Dale: Yes. Let me go back and do anything. Let me just talk in the microphone. I love playing a character. I think I was pretty good at it and like speaking on the microphone and I offered to do anything I could and yeah. They didn't even bring me back for that, so jokes on them. Know your worth.
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