With a nickname like "The EST," Bianca Belair prides herself on being the toughest, strongest, smartest, and fastest name in WWE. As noted on "What's Your Story," however, her striving toward the latter previously came at a major cost.
Years before signing with WWE as a professional wrestler, Belair spent her high school years as a sprinter and hurdler for her high school track team. Admittedly, her high-school-aged self became so obsessed with reaching her dream at that point, getting a full scholarship to the University of South Carolina that she pushed herself physically in order to do so. What started out as running and exercising in the Knoxville rain and cold, eventually escalated to something much darker, though.
"It became an obsession, and so it started leading to like okay, what else can I do to run faster? What else can I do to perform?" Belair recalled. "My weight was always an issue I've always been naturally muscular. I've always had broad shoulders, I've always got the big thighs from my mama and that's just how I'm built. So the first thing [from my coaches] would be your weight, 'If you lose weight, you'll run faster.' It's a toxic thing and to a certain extent it is true. You have to get in shape, but then I took it overboard, and I developed eating disorders. I hid it from my coaches, I hid it from my parents, but I ran faster, which is crazy, and I got a scholarship and I went to college."
While Belair initially thought her eating disorder, previously identified as Bulimia, would subside upon her arrival to the University of South Carolina, it instead became even worse, both physically and mentally. Still, Belair opted to run away from her problems, and eventually transferred out of USC and into Texas A&M University to begin her sophomore year. Around this time, doctors prescribed her medication for depression something she also hid from her parents.
"I started feeling better and I was like, okay, I feel better, I'm gonna stop this medication," Belair said, "and I stopped cold turkey. You're not supposed to do that, and I spiraled so bad. I just felt like I was trying to swim back to the top and I had a weight on my ankle. I don't know what's going on. And so my coach at Texas A&M, I feel like he was a mentor before he was a coach. He said, 'You're not getting on that track until you get yourself together.' He pulled me aside one day, and said 'What's going on, are you okay?' I broke down. I said, 'No, and I don't know what's wrong, I can't figure it out.' It was mainly because I stopped the medication cold turkey and I went back to dealing with the eating disorder."
Thanks to the encouragement and care of her A&M track coach, Belair finally got the help she needed to improve her health and her relationship with her parents. With her focus now centered on getting better and a support system to back it up, Belair then went home to Knoxville, leaving her track career behind for a year.
Once she returned to a healthy form, Belair felt the itch to return to the track field as well. Fortunately, coach Heather Van Norman at the University of Tennessee gave her a chance to do so, on the condition that Belair train with her for a year first before officially joining the Lady Vols. Belair, of course, agreed.
If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who is, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).
