Mandy Rose Mentions How She Almost Lost Her Brother During 'SummerSlam' Weekend Last Year

In a previous segment, Mandy Rose discussed with Lilian Garcia on her first appearance of Chasing Glory the struggles she faced when her parents divorced during her adolescence and the ripple effect that ensued with how she dealt with romantic relationships. In her second appearance of Chasing Glory this week, Garcia and Rose revisited that topic to see if she felt the same way and still had trouble maintaining healthy relationships. Now, Rose admits she is comfortable with being more vulnerable in her relationships and how she's trying to instill that same technique towards her brothers.

"Yeah. I do," Mandy Rose quickly replied. "But going back to even thinking about the interview we had, I am a little bit guarded, and I don't usually like to show all my emotions; I remember telling you that too. After watching and listening to it, I was surprised by how comfortable I was to bring all of that up to the surface. I grew up with three older brothers. A lot [of our upbringing] was like, 'Oh, put on your happy face, and you'll be ok.' Now looking back, it's ok to show those emotions...I tell my brothers, 'You gotta let your emotions out because if you bottle them up, you'll explode.'"

After her long-time friend/tag partner turned bitter rival Sonya Deville cut her hair off on SmackDown, Rose started rocking a shorter bob hairstyle that fascinated fans from afar. In real life, Rose was ready to make that transformation from a pretty face to a more fierce competitor. She thought the first thing that would help with that alteration was to get rid of her long blonde locks.

"Well, for storyline purposes, obviously with Sonya cutting it, but I actually wanted a change," she answered when asked by Garcia why she decided to cut her hair. "But I miss putting it in a messy bun."

Going back to things discussed in their first interview, Rose confided in Garcia that she dealt with body insecurities following her bodybuilding career in 2013. Now, she has found a better appreciation for how she takes care of her body.

"I'm at a really good place, I think now. With bodybuilding, it sometimes can mess you up in the sense of getting your body to a certain point where you see yourself on stage, and you're like, 'Wow,' but knowing that's not an everyday lifestyle look, or whatever you want to call it," she stated. "Right now, my biggest thing is that I don't stress about it anymore. I eat well, and I work out a ton, but there are so many times where I don't worry about what I'm eating. And I noticed that I'm happy with the way my body is."

Despite the pressures she's had with herself and maintaining a stunning presence in WWE, Rose admits that she finds it hard to be the rock in both her professional and personal life, especially after her parent's divorce years ago. As mentioned above, it was Rose's brothers who took their parent's separation harder than she did. Because of the issues that came from her home life, one of her brothers happened to fall prey to the world of addiction. She recalls how she almost lost her cool at last year's SummerSlam after finding out that her brother had overdosed on drugs and was in the hospital fighting for his life.

"My brother almost died SummerSlam weekend last year," she mentioned. "This was on my mom's birthday. Since then, it hasn't been like that; it's just still the alcohol, and, you know, he's insecure over what happened. [I tell him] there's only so much I can do. If you can't improve yourself, I can't sit here [and fix it]. It's like that quote you said earlier about the anchor and how it just keeps taking you down, and everyone's taking you down. For the last couple of years, I felt like that with my family. I'm like, 'I can't do this anymore. I just can't. I do too much; it's not fair.'"

With 2020 being her breakout year, Rose admits that while she was trying to celebrate all the gratifying moments that were happening for her at work, her personal life was overshadowing that enjoyment.

"You know, I was. I tried to focus on what was going on in the moment because we knew this wasn't going to last, but there was so much going on in my house," she admitted. "I do a lot of stuff for my dad because he's done a lot for me and my brothers. But he's 63, and he's still working on his feet every day. He's keeping the deli for his sons to have just in case, you know. My dad is the most generous and selfless man, but I do a lot to try and help him. I realize I'm doing a lot for them, but then I think, 'Well, who's doing this for me?' I don't need help. But, like, being asked how I'm doing and that support would be nice."

You can watch Mandy Rose's full interview here. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Lilian Garcia -Chasing Glory with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.