Mercedes Mone has detailed her mental health struggles following her WWE departure.
The current AEW star recently had an interview with fellow Mandalorian star Katee Sackhoff. She opened up about her departure from the promotion then owned by Vince McMahon during the talk. Mone noted how it was not an easy decision because it meant potentially saying goodbye to the Sasha Banks character forever.
Mercedes Mone explained that she wasn't sure what to do even after her departure and her run in Japan was a way for her to figure out if she still wanted to continue wrestling. When asked if she considered leaving the business for good, the wrestling star revealed that she did have those thoughts:
I did. I did because of how hurt I was by it and how much it drove me into a place of darkness. I couldn't believe something that brought me so much light in my life, that saved me so many times when I was a kid, brought me so much darkness.
I was just like 'I don't want to feel like this.' I don't want to have so much stress where I'm legit killing myself because of all the stress that I'm creating or the sadness that I'm bringing to myself because of this bad constant mental talk in my head.
A Lot of Healing: Mercedes Mone
The former Sasha Banks had been frustrated with her booking for a long time before she finally decided to quit WWE in May 2022. The decision was not an easy one, however, and the former WWE star struggled with it for a long time.
Thankfully in the end, Mercedes Mone decided not to give in to those voices. She decided that she would continue pursuing her dreams instead of letting people who wanted her to quit win:
So just a lot of healing. Just a lot of healing and I told myself 'No, this is still what I freaking love. I love wrestling. I still have the same goal of when I was 10 years old. No one's going to take that away.' I felt like at this time maybe they want to see me gone forever.
Maybe people want to see me disappear and I'm like 'I can't give that to people. I can't give up on myself and I can't give up on my dream. I still have so much light and passion for this and such a chase and a drive.'
Mercedes Mone also discussed potential retirement from wrestling and noted that she wants to start setting up her post-retirement career soon. You can check out her comments on the matter here.
