For ten years, wrestling fans knew her as WWE star Sonya Deville. Following her departure from WWE in February 2025, though, Daria Rae wanted to return to her roots, name and all. As such, she took an 11-month break from the professional wrestling world.
During an interview with Denise Salcedo, Rae opened up about the mental and professional resets that came during her time away from the squared circle. "It was kind of taking a step back and being like, okay, who is Daria without Sonya Deville? Who am I? What do I want?" Rae recalled. "Obviously spending time with my family, but pursuing other things that I hadn't been able to do before.
"Film and television has been my passion since I was a kid, so to be able to pursue that and do the movies that I did. I'm filming another one tomorrow and another one next week. When I found out that the opportunity with TNA could work and I can still do all the things that I love outside of that, I was like this is a no-brainer. It is the best of both worlds but I needed that 10 to 11 months to really take things back to grassroots and be like okay who am I?"
Fueled by self-discovery, Rae revealed that she went on an Ayahuasca retreat with her wife during the aforementioned break. Elsewhere, she expanded her acting portfolio, with one film role landing in her lap just days before her WWE exit. Now, she has returned to the wrestling bubble, specificallysigned to TNA Wrestling as an on-screen authority figure opposite TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Denise Salcedo with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
