Gabbi Tuft is living her truth and doesn’t care what anybody thinks of her.
The 42-year-old former WWE star just recently came out as transgender in a lengthy statement shared on her social media accounts.
“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,” she continued. “I am no longer afraid and I am no longer fearful. I can now say with confidence, that I love myself for WHO I am.”
Tuft, who previously wrestled under the ring name Tyler Reks, went on to open up about her journey, saying that 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,” she recalled. “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.”
In her statement, Tuft also thanked her “loving” wife Priscilla — with whom she shares 9-year-old daughter Mia — and those who “have accepted me for who I am.”
“To them, I am forever grateful. Your support along the way means more than you will ever know,” she wrote.
“I don’t expect everyone to agree or understand. It’s not my place to change any of your core beliefs. Just know that the outer shell may change, but the soul remains the same,” Tuft added.
“I promise to always be transparent and truthful with my journey, and to be a light to those that are in need. This is me,” she concluded the post.
Tuft also shared a teaser clip from her upcoming interview with Extra on Twitter, in which she spoke about how her transition has affected her relationship with wife Priscilla.
“It’s been a very interesting progression,” she shared. “Out intimate life has changed quite a bit. We’re not active in that way right now, but what we’ve discovered is a whole different part of our relationship.”
Tuft has been married to Priscilla since 2002. In a Instagram Story shared earlier this week, Priscilla teased that the couple “will share the most pivotal transformation in 23 years together.”
On Wednesday, Tuft posted a heartfelt tribute to her wife, writing in part, “Our love has crossed many lifetimes. We have fought battles to reach each other… and in other lives to break away from each other. We have waged wars in the name of our love, lost our own life or lives defending it, and been separated by insurmountable distances and odds. Somehow though, in every life, we find each other and our physical and ethereal bodies unite as one soul, as it was meant to be.
“I love you P, until my dying breath…and then I will find you again,” she wrote.
Tuft, who wrestled under the name Tyler Reks, is best known for her three-year stint in WWE from 2009 to 2012.
Tuft, whose pronouns are She/Her, recently had a virtual sit-down with EXTRA’s Billy Bush and explained she first tried on women’s clothing when she was just 10 years old and “it just felt right.”
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Bush noted that Priscilla is “not sexually attracted to women.”
“It’s been a very interesting … progression,” explained Gabbi. “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.” She added Priscilla has been “such a rock” for her during her transition.
“We actually don’t have partners outside of the relationship at all,” said Priscilla. “I was a virgin when we got married 18 and a half years ago — we had never kissed. Our first kiss was on our wedding day.”
Gabbi said it’s been an “ongoing conversation” when it comes to the couple’s daughter.
“I told her, ‘Sweetheart, I’m not going to go out in public right now and go outside,'” explained Tuft. “And she goes, ‘Why, daddy?’ ‘I’m afraid that people might make fun of me and it might affect you,’ and she leans over gives me the biggest hug and she says, ‘Daddy, I will never make fun of you.'”
Tuft added that she hopes her transition can give others like her hope.
“I know that there are thousands of transgender women, transgender men that are going through the same process I’m going through, and they don’t have the support that I do,” she explained. “And so here’s what I pledge: I promise that I will share my story and be 100% transparent, because knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel can just be that ray of hope that keeps somebody with us, that keeps him alive, and lets them know, ‘Yes, I can do this, too.'”
