Shaw never thought she would go public.
On 6/25, IMPACT Wrestling talent Gisele Shaw shared that she is transgender while on Toronto’s ‘Breakfast Television’ show.
Shaw received a great deal of support from her colleagues and those within IMPACT Wrestling. The company released a statement on the matter which included Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore expressing his support of Gisele.
She was welcomed onto Busted Open Radio with Dave LaGreca, Tommy Dreamer and Tasha Steelz. Gisele said she never thought she would go public because she wanted people to judge her solely based off her wrestling. It was at the Dresslemania II event (hosted by Mickie James, SoCal Val and Lisa Marie Varon) that Shaw had a conversation with a transwoman in attendance that later encouraged her to share her truth.
So, obviously everyone has a different journey, right? It did take me a very long time but no one can tell you when really to be ready. It’s not something that — I never thought that I would do it, you know? I’ve always just kind of wanted to stay under the radar because I wanted people to judge me for my wrestling, and not because she’s this, oh, she’s that. But I went to an event this April called Dresslemania, so it’s a fundraiser for mental health awareness and you know, where we auction off dresses that is important to us and I was speaking at the event. There was a transwoman there actually. I was telling my story there, a personal story and she came up to me after the event and she said, ‘Hey, I could relate to your story’ and it really freaked me out because you know, I haven’t told anyone in the company and she’s telling me that she could relate to my story and in my mind, I was so freaked out. I was like, woah, ‘I gotta walk to be part of this.’ I just felt so ashamed almost. So I was like, you know what? And I just kind of brushed her off which after that, I just felt really bad because growing up, I wanted to have a platform where I could help people and that was an opportunity for me to help somebody and I brushed her off. So part of me wanting to disclose that I’m transgender was I have a platform with IMPACT Wrestling and I wanna use that for good and I want to inspire people, educate people…
Shaw is scheduled to appear on the 6/30 episode of IMPACT on AXS as she’ll be taking on Rosemary in singles competition.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit Busted Open Radio with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
