Charlotte Flair, Charlotte Flair and Ric Flair, Andrade and Charlotte Flair
Charlotte Flair has taken a beatdown in and out of the ring.
After suffering through a debilitating injury and secret divorce, the WWE superstar is opening up about how constant public criticism takes its toll.
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“I lived in . . . fear of being judged and feeling not enough.
“Charlotte Flair gets family shamed, body shamed and age shamed all the time and I just have to wear my suit of armor and be that dominant, cold ice queen, when really, I’m a real person with real feelings and it hurts,” she told The Post ahead of Wrestlemania 41 on April 19 and 20.
“I can’t live . . . trying to be perfect all the time because that nearly destroyed me. . . . And admitting that is so hard because Charlotte looks like she’s just so perfect.”
Charlotte Flair opened up about being constantly criticized throughout her career and how its taken its toll. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
Flair, 39, returned to WWE in January, more than a year after she tore her ACL, MCL and meniscus during a “WWE SmackDown” match in December 2023.
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Her road to recovery was doubly difficult, as she simultaneously was going through a divorce from her third husband, WWE star Andrade, 35.
“No matter what I did with recovery with my knee, my marriage was falling apart,” she said. “There were days I just didn’t want to get out of bed.”
Flair kept her divorce from her third husband, WWE star Andrade, a secret. Getty Images for WWE
The daughter of legendary wrestler Ric Flair managed to keep the split a secret — even from her dad.
“I didn’t want my dad to know because I love my dad but he shares things that I don’t want to be shared,” she said.
“And then my dad released that he had just gone through a divorce, so I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s divorced, I’m divorced. I’m gonna be the laughingstock of the wrestling community.’”
The WWE superstar even hid her divorce from her dad, legendary wrestler Ric Flair. Charlotte Flair/ Instagram
The blonde beauty, whose real name is Ashley Fliehr, filed for divorce in June and recalled the dark time.
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“I was just devastated and embarrassed and failing again . . . and also feeling like my clock is ticking.”
Flair revealed she underwent unsuccessful IVF treatments.
“It didn’t work. Not saying it’s not going to . . . Doesn’t mean that you can’t adopt. That’s how I look at it. In the best case scenario, I do have a family. I have a little girl and a little boy,” she said.
“Not everything has to be the white picket fence. I’m gonna make a perfect life for me.”
The North Carolina native — who chose Charlotte as her ring name in homage to her hometown — said it’s not always easy being in her dad’s shadow and having people think she had “everything handed” to her in the wrestling world.
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“No, it was hard work, perseverance, determination . . . I know what it took to get here,” she said.
Flair made history as the first WWE women’s champion. WWE
Flair, who made history as the first WWE women’s champion in 2016, has no plans to hang up her wrestling boots.
“People look at me and they’re like, ‘Well, Charlotte Flair has done it all in wrestling.’ Maybe I have . . . but this is my passion,” she said.
“I don’t think success has an expiration date. And I don’t think anyone should be labeled as, ‘Oh, they’re in their prime.’ No, there is no prime. You either decide to evolve or you don’t.”
The blonde beauty is not opposed to dating another wrestler. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
She hasn’t given up on love either — and isn’t opposed to dating another wrestler.
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“Never say never,” she said.
“It’s easier and they get you. Wrestling is a very unique job. So it takes a strong man to understand the demands.”
If romance with a fellow wrestler doesn’t pan out, Flair, who has over 5 million Instagram followers, can always date a fan, since she gets marriage proposals from men all over the world.
“A lot,” she said, laughing. “Like, ‘Marry me, Charlotte, from Italy.’ It’s cute.”
