SONYA DEVILLE

I've never dealt with really anything negative in the WWE as a whole, in the locker room, anything.

You can be happy with work, you can be happy in other facets of life, but if you're not happy in your personal life, and you're not loving open and honestly, it sucks.

I am an entertainer and I am an athlete, and WWE is the biggest performance-based show in the world.

I'm the first-ever openly gay female in the WWE.

I feel like the story me and Ronda can tell one day will be so awesome, and I think we have something special here. I think that it's going to be an honor and a privilege to work in the ring with her. That's the biggest compliment, is that Ronda Rousey - she's done a lot in her life. She's accomplished a lot.

I'm a very passionate person. I'm Italian, it's in my blood so when I care about something, I get emotional.

From a very early age, I realized why I was put on this planet: to fight.

I started training at a local gym in New Jersey, and the day of my high school graduation, I packed up everything in my car and moved to Coconut Creek, Florida, where I trained with one of the best gyms in the world, American Top Team.

My MMA background, I think, only enhances my experience on 'Tough Enough' or in the WWE in general.

Sonya Deville was originally supposed to be NJ Deville to help me keep my MMA nickname of 'The Jersey Devil' after debating back and forth we agreed on Sonya Deville.

Everyone has contributed to the Women's Evolution in their own way, and I hope that my message can just be it's okay to not look like the rest, it's okay to not fit in, it's okay to be yourself and be different.

Acting is my love.

I live for the pressure, I live for the moments when I'm deep in the match, out of breath, hurt and feel like throwing up. It's in those moments that I push through, I keep punching, I keep going forward, because no matter what, I will never stop.

I've always been athletic my entire life and loved sports.

We're all equal and we should treat each other as such.

I have a theory that confidence comes from self-worth.

Spreading the positivity is just as important as telling the difficult stories.

I had so much fun in the 'Tough Enough' barracks.

I love every minute of being inside that squared circle.

With any minority group, it takes a strong presence in the public eye to make a change because everything nowadays is social media.

It's not a good feeling to hide a huge part of your life. If you were meant to be somebody else, you'd be somebody else, so don't change who you are.

It's insane how many fans I have from the LGBTQ+ community. I would say the majority of my fanbase are young, gay women.

A good friend of mine, Maria Menounos, she's kind of like a mentor to me. She dabbled in WWE and pro wrestling, and she said 'This is the perfect opportunity for you.' Once I started doing my research about the competition and the company, I fell in love with WWE even more.

Being a part of the LGBTQ community myself, it's another passion of mine to let my fan base know that I represent another demographic in the WWE.

I think WWE superstars and Divas are here to change lives. That's why they do what they do. They want to make an impact on the world.