Former WWE star April Mendez Brooks (AJ Lee) recently spoke with IGN.com‘s Eric Goldman while promoting her new book Crazy is My Superpower, which is available now. You can read a few excerpts below:
AJ Lee comments on announcing she is bipolar, how her fanbase responded and could relate:
The really cool thing is I call it my superpower because I think there are other level abilities that come with having something… Some people might think it’s an illness but sometimes it does feel like an extra ability. I think when it’s a part of you, you can see it in other people. I think the fans saw it through the television. And I would see them outside the stands and they’d confide in me about their anxiety, about cutting themselves, about their suicide attempt, and [how] seeing my character on TV made them feel less alone. As that happened more and more, I realized it was my responsibility to embrace that and be open to them and let them know that they weren’t wrong and they were seeing something that was very similar in me. They could see right through to my soul. So to connect with fans and be even more open was very important to me. Even the fans, I can remember their faces at the signings. I want them to know that we’re similar in that way.
AJ comments on realizing when she accomplished all of her goals in wrestling:
Yeah, and it’s strange because I think normally when people aren’t in the business anymore it’s either a dramatic thing or they get fired. It’s very rarely just a very calm, peaceful “Mission accomplished… Everything has been checked off the list and I don’t have anything left to prove or any goal left to reach.” It feels so complete and accomplished but I think that’s slightly unsettling for a lot of people. When you don’t have anything to fight for or be angry about it’s strange. I kind of mention it in the book, but it was that Mania where it was ten years to do the day of me being at WrestleMania 20 in the nosebleed section, promising my dad I’d be in the ring. And then WrestleMania 30 I’m in the ring and I’m holding the title and I beat the entire women’s roster. It was kind of this, “Okay, I’m done. My war is over.” Then I stuck around for a while. Everything after that felt like frosting on the cake. But there’s a little bit of a serenity that comes with completing all of your missions you set out for in life. Then you say “Okay, I have to create more dreams and reach for more stuff.” And that’s terrifying and exciting.
AJ comments on her favorite run during her WWE career:
I’d probably say when me and Kaitlyn got to have our run together. The decision-makers weren’t really paying attention so we were getting away with so much stuff and our writers were just letting us have free reign and it all got positive reaction and ratings with the fans. And then our superiors took notice and it felt very much like creating your own destiny and working with your best friend in the process. It’s so much fun to be the bad guy. So that feels like the pinnacle of my bad guy reign. I enjoyed being the jerk.
