torrie wilson: tough torrie

Tough Torrie

Battled eating disorders as teen and became international wrestling star
You'd never know it by looking at her today, but Torrie Wilson hasn't always been comfortable with her body. Wilson, the WWE diva who has posed for Playboy twice, battled a variety of eating disorders for nearly six years while a teenager in Idaho.

Anorexia came first and eventually gave way to bulimia, but that's when Wilson began to put the disorders behind her.

"It was between the ages of 14 and 20 and I started off not eating at all, maybe an apple a day," Wilson said in an exclusive interview with The Sun yesterday afternoon before she took part in a press conference promoting the WWE Smackdown! show at Winnipeg Arena on July 6. "It's not something I'm proud of, but I do talk about it because there are a lot of young girls who tell me how much it's helped them to know it's something I went through too."

Part of the healing process saw Wilson pour her energy into working out and eating six meals a day. Then came the fitness competitions, where Wilson reached her peak when she was crowned Miss Galaxy in 1998.

"When I was dealing with the eating disorder, I wanted to look like the stick-thin models, but then I started reading fitness magazines and seeing these girls with great bodies that weren't too muscular," said Wilson, who made her wrestling debut in 1999 with WCW and has been in the WWE since June of 2001. "I started posting their pictures on my wall and using them as inspiration. It was a personal victory to me when I started doing photo shoots with the girls I had posted on my wall."

These days, WWE fans are the one's putting Wilson 's posters on the wall.

BLOND BOMBSHELL

Funny thing is, the blond bombshell never aspired to have anything to do with wrestling.

"I had not even watched one wrestling show (before going to a live event in 1999)," said Wilson . "I was dating a guy that was a huge wrestling fan and I'm embarrassed to say it now but I used to make fun of him for watching it.

"Time really has gone by fast. I don't know if your path is pre-written or what, but it's crazy how one thing just leads to another."

Wilson says growing up in a small town helped her prepare to deal with what she's going through these days as a WWE superstar.

"It was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was painfully shy when I was young -- even when I was in high school," said Wilson, noting her most memorable match to date came last month in Madison Square Garden during Wrestlemania XX.

"I did sports and cheerleading and things I never would have done in a big city. It helped me kind of start breaking out of my shell."
The shell is cracking, but isn't broken just yet.

"I like the performing part, it gives me a huge rush but it still makes me nervous," said Wilson , whose best friend in the business is Stacy Keibler. "Being in front of large crowds is intimidating to me and I feel myself withdrawing."

Wilson doesn't know how long she'll stay in the wrestling business, but she's in no hurry to withdraw from that.
I'm trying to do it while it's fun," said Wilson, who resides in Tampa Bay , Fla. with husband and fellow wrestler Billy Kidman when she's not on the road.

"I definitely want to have kids and I want to be a somewhat young mother but I'm still having fun and I can't imagine stopping now."