WWE wrestler Gabbi Tuft Comes Out As A Trans Woman

In the ultimate smack down, former WWE superstar Gabbi Tuft took to social media on Thursday to announce that she is a transgender woman.

Tuft, previously known in the ring as Tyler Reks, had joined World Wrestling Entertainment in 2007, later signing to a WWE developmental contract the following year. She took to Instagram saying: “This is me. Unashamed, unabashedly me. This is the side of me that has hidden in the shadows, afraid and fearful of what the world would think; afraid of what my family, friends and followers would say or do.”

“The previous eight months have been some of the darkest of my entire life. The emotional turmoil of being transgender and having to face the world has almost ended me on multiple occasions.

“However, the day I stopped caring about what other people thought, was the day I truly became limitless and allowed my authentic self to come into the light,” the former wrestling pro went on to write.

 Spanning from 2007 to 2014, Tuft’s professional wrestling career boasted appearances at Smackdown, Raw and Wrestlemania, gaining her a strong fan base and international recognition.

Tuft’s Instagram post coincided with an interview on Extra TV, in which she further opened up about her journey, saying that throughout her adolescence there was always a question mark hanging over her gender.

“When I was 10, when my parents weren’t home, I would sneak into my mom’s closet and try on her clothes, and it just felt right, but I suppressed it my whole life,” Tuft told Extra TV host Billy Bush.

Tuft, who has been married to wife Priscilla since 2002, went on to say that the relationship the two shared was in a ‘transformational phase’, but that she had the full support of her wife and their 10- year-old daughter Mia.

With nothing off-limits in the Extra TV interview Tuft also candidly spoke of her and her wife’s changing relationship saying, “It’s been a very interesting progression. Our intimate life has changed quite a bit. We’re not active in that way right now. And what we’ve discovered is a whole different part of our relationship.”

Tuft has promised to continue to provide transparency regarding her emotional and physical journey. “Just know the outer shell may change, but the soul remains the same.”