In her first interview since announcing her decision to leave WWE last week, Lilian Garcia appeared on The Tomorrow Show on Monday night.
During the revealing interview, Garcia opened up about her decision to leave WWE, her father’s cancer, and various struggles in life. She also reflected on her 15-year career with WWE, and shared memories on Vince McMahon, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, Chyna, Owen Hart, Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Trish Stratus and many more.
Highlights from the interview are as follows:
Her decision to leave WWE:
Being at WWE is no longer an option. Being on road, skipping work, that’s never been me… you just can’t call in sick or take a leave of absence there, it just doesn’t happen. So it’s the right time for me to be gone from WWE for sure. I can spend way more time with him which is priceless.
Lilian said her dad feels guilty about her departure from WWE and that she misses it tremendously:
My dad feels really super guilty about this. He feels like everything that’s done, he feels like, I mean I’ve been at WWE for 15. So he’s feeling so bad and so responsible for this because I missed work for so many days and because I’m not there and I just keep telling him, I want to be here, I want to be here for you. And I can’t even imagine being on the road right now. If I was still there, my heart. I would literally take off and be on a plane and be like “what the hell I shouldn’t be on a plane right now.” I want to enjoy every second I can with him. So I’m glad I’m not there for that reason. I miss the fans tremendously, I miss the show, I miss everybody I work with. I wish I would’ve even gotten to say goodbye, I didn’t even get to say goodbye. It was just these decisions that were happening so quick and everything. But I do have to say one thing. WWE fans are incredible.
Will she ever return to WWE?
I have a love and a passion for WWE. And I received such beautiful e-mails from Vince, from Stephanie, from Triple H and just saying the door’s always open… we’ve all had such a great relationship over the years. If they were to call me to do something special…totally. I’d be all over it. It’s just a place that has really been good to me, and has been a wild ride.
Owen Hart’s tragic accident:
He passed away from an accident from what I understand he was going from his cape… But when he went for his cape the release button right here (point to shoulder) is right here too, from what I understand, so he hit the release on it and that’s why he went down…he was trying to adjust his cape, and the release latch was right there and so that’s why it released… So that was a total freak accident that happened.
Chyna’s backstage beef with her:
All of a sudden I hear ‘excuse me you’re in my way, you’re right in my way, like you’ve stood right in my way,’ and I look back and it’s Chyna. She was looking at herself from afar and I just kinda swooped right in and started doing this, not noticing that she was back there trying to get the, you know, the perspective. So I was just like oh my gosh I’m so sorry…that was 17 years ago.
Chyna apologizing to her:
One day after a few weeks I don’t remember exactly when, she looked at me she goes ‘I want to apologize to you, I want to apologize for the way that I have treated you, that I was kind of cold, I thought you were just like every other girl that just wants to be famous and just comes here and doesn’t really respect the business and I know you weren’t from, you know, didn’t grow up in the business and so I didn’t really give you a shot and I just am really sorry.’ And that was so big and so awesome and ever since that day we just had a great relationship.
Why she didn’t reach out during Chyna’s struggle with addiction:
I knew that she was in trouble when she left WWE but I didn’t feel like I could reach out to her because I didn’t feel like I was close enough and had been involved in her life to reach out in that way, and when you are dealing with an addiction, thats something way over my head.
Chris Benoit’s murder-suicide:
I remember that that day we were told that they were going to do a tribute show, and they said just go back to your hotel rooms and we’ll regroup tomorrow to do ‘Smackdown’. So, I’ll never forget that the four people — the three other people I was with that night were Victoria, Ric Flair and Rowdy Roddy Piper…we found a way to come together and really we really figured it out that WWE is a family…I knew Chris for seven years. Never expected that from him at all–ever.
The day she found out she couldn’t get pregnant, Candice Michelle called to tell her that she was pregnant:
The day that I found out that I couldn’t have a child was the day that Candice Michelle called me to tell me she was pregnant… She’s like ‘I got some great news!’ and she tells me she’s pregnant. I literally hold the phone like this and just tears streaming down my face. I couldn’t tell her that I couldn’t have a child. No way would I ruin her moment…I don’t think I’ve ever even told her. So she might hear about this. And we’ve stayed close since but I never wanted to ruin that moment for her.
Eddie Guerrero’s premature death is why she celebrates her birthday:
I remember Eddie Guerrero, he passed away at 39, and he didn’t make it to forty. So all of a sudden, I was just like ‘wait a minute, here’s someone who didn’t make it to their next birthday.’ So when I did, I was celebrating to no end. I was like this is crazy not to celebrate.
If WWE should offer therapy:
It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to have some kind of therapist to go “ok, so this has been your lifestyle and now here’s how I can help you transition into that.” So I think it’s a great idea and I’m all about therapy.
Being approached by a competing wrestling company during her two year hiatus from the WWE:
I was approached to join another company and I was like, ‘Well, I appreciate it, so much, but I didn’t leave to go jump and do another wrestling company because WWE for me has just been great.’
Having an eating disorder:
I struggled with eating disorder for many many years, I was bulimic. And I finally was like ‘okay.’ 15 times in one day I threw up. That’s when the frickin’ light went off on me and I went ‘okay I need help.’
Botch during an Undertaker match:
The Undertaker is having a match, oh my gosh, and I remember Edge was involved in the match and I believe it was a tag team, and I think Umaga was a part of that as well… the referee, I thought, counted to three so I rang the bell. All four of them turned and looked at me like ‘WHAT!?’
The Tomorrow Show with Keven Undergaro is a late night talk show produced Maria Menounos, that airs live Mondays and Thursdays from 10-12am EST at thetomorrowshow.com and is available on iTunes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVjuO9L_v_c
