Sharing her pregnancy journey has been a “cathartic and rewarding” experience for WWE star Carmella.
Carmella, whose real name is Leah Van Dale, announced in May that she and husband Corey Graves, a former wrestler and current WWE announcer, are expecting a baby boy this fall after suffering two devastating miscarriages last year.
When reflecting on this chapter of her life, Van Dale, 35, said she’s learned just “how strong” she really is.
“I think that’s something that, until you get pushed to the limit and your boundaries are tested, you’re put in these situations, you don’t realize how strong you actually are,” Van Dale recently told The Post.
“The admiration I have for our bodies in general, it’s just so wild to see all of the changes and to know that even though I had gone through a few miscarriages and my body had gone through that, it’s still able to carry a child and go through this amazing experience.
“We’re just so resilient and I’m just in awe of the female body.”
Van Dale, a former women’s tag-team champion and SmackDown women’s champion, revealed in October 2022 that she suffered an ectopic pregnancy, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, occurs when a fertilized egg attaches itself outside the uterus, potentially inside a fallopian tube.
In a post shared on Instagram at the time, Van Dale expressed that she “never thought something like this would happen to me, especially after suffering from an early miscarriage in September [2022].”
Van Dale felt compelled to share her story and received an overwhelming response.
“I felt like I need to share this story because I’m not the same person after going through this, and being able to talk about it, and share it and have other women reach out and say, ‘Hey, this actually happened to me,’ and made me feel like I wasn’t alone, so it works both ways,” she said.
“I’m very grateful to have made the connections that I’ve made with these women.”
As the end of her pregnancy nears, Van Dale — who has been married to Graves (born Matt Polinsky) since April 2022 and is a stepmom to his three children — is taking in all of the self-care and listening to what her body needs.
“Being able to be away from WWE right now in this time — obviously, I can’t work, I can’t wrestle — it’s afforded me the opportunity to be so present in everyday life and just acknowledge what my body is going through and be in it,” she said.
It’s a state of being that Van Dale wants to continue when the couple’s bundle of joy arrives.
“You only have a newborn for such a short period of time and then time goes by, you don’t get that back so I really just want to soak in every minute,” she said.
Although a return to the WWE is “for sure on [her] radar,” Van Dale is “not putting any pressure” on herself.
“Obviously my job is very physical so I want to make sure I’m very, very prepared and ready, not only physically but mentally,” she said.
“I definitely want to go back, it’s for sure, for sure on my radar, it’s just a matter of when.”
