Brie Bella is opening up about her initial struggles to transition from professional wrestler to professional mom.
The "Total Bellas" welcomed her daughter, Birdie Joe Danielson, in May 2017. After the birth, though, she felt like she lost some of her identity.
"I was a professional wrestler before Birdie," she said on her Bellas podcast with her twin sister, Nikki. "We had a really big career. The hardest thing for me was kind of when Birdie was born was kind of being like, 'Ok, I'm a mom now,' but I didn't want to lose the old Brie and I really did lose my identity."
To be clear, Brie doesn't regret having a child, but she wondered if it was the right time to have one, considering women were starting to really get a prime placement with WWE.
One of the hardest things, she said, was watching the first ever Women's Money in the Bank match from her couch, which took place just six weeks after giving birth.
"I've worked over a decade and I worked so hard for that. I wanted to be part of that," Brie said. "All of a sudden, it was like the day I got pregnant, it was like all of sudden the women were starting to make history. They were giving them longer matches. They were doing bigger things and I just remember feeling so bad."
Soon after, Brie attempted a WWE comeback, but it didn't go well.
"I really had a hard time with my identity," she said. "I ended up making a comeback because I missed the old Brie and I failed so bad at it in front of the world."
She added, "It made me realize, 'Brie, the old you is gone. You gotta really figure out who you are today and WWE is the past.'"
Along the way, the reality TV star reached out and got help from a "life coach."
"Anyone out there who struggles with depression or does go through some hard times or feels a little lost, whether it's with your identity or just with bullying, to reach out to someone because I was there," she said. "You want to be away from everyone—even my baby. I was just depressed."