Bianca Belair has opened up about the decision behind her pregnancy announcement at WrestleMania 42. Belair last wrestled at WrestleMania 41 before suffering an injury that has kept her sidelined ever since. At WrestleMania 42, she made her return to reveal that she and husband Montez Ford are expecting their first child.
In a recent vlog (h/t Fightful), Belair explained how the lengthy time away from the ring shaped her thinking.
“So as everybody knows, at WrestleMania, I broke my finger. I broke my knuckle, and I have joint damage, and I lost a portion of my joint, which can’t be fixed. I originally thought it was gonna be a pretty straightforward recovery. They said 8 to 12 weeks, but it just started not really healing correctly. It still won’t bend to this day… and I can’t get in the ring.”
Belair said hitting the four-month mark of her layoff prompted a conversation with Ford about what she wanted next.
“It kind of just got to the point where I hit four months, and I have always wanted to have a baby. I’m not getting any younger, and honestly, this is what I want to do, and I feel like for so long I was kind of putting what I wanted to do and myself on the back burner. Me and my husband, we had a talk, and I kind of just told him, ‘I’m ready just to do something for me, and I’ve sacrificed enough, and I’m ready to have a baby.'”
A multi-time women’s champion and the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble winner, Belair is a former track athlete and CrossFit competitor who debuted with WWE in 2016.