Nikki Bella Says She Was Called “The Fat Twin”

During an interview with Yahoo Lifestyle, Nikki Bella said that when she debuted in WWE 10 years alongside her sister Brie, “everyone” would call her “the fat twin.”

“I’ve been compared my whole life. I’ve been the bigger twin,” Bella said. “When I got on TV 10 years ago, immediately everyone called me ‘the fat twin.’ I had always looked at myself as someone who was just healthy and I loved who I was, but there was a period of time when it really got to me.”

Her clothing company, BirdieBee, which she runs with her sister, includes a range of sizes from XS through XXXL.

“I think every store should have a size for everyone,” Bella said. “Every brand should have a size for everyone.”

Bella, a lifelong athlete, has always appreciated her body for its strength and worried less about its size. Though she reiterates that her television career threw her body confidence for a loop.

“I was a competitive soccer player, and for us, the stronger your size the better,” Bella said of her body during her teenage years.

“It wasn’t until being on TV that I let that confidence go because of how compared I was in the public eye to my sister. I remember Brie saying, like, ‘Where’s that girl who would wear knee-high boots and a sweater dress like J.Lo to high school, with so much confidence?’ I was like, ‘Wow, you’re right, why am I letting people get to me?’

“It’s hard when you are in the entertainment industry,” Bella adds. “I think for so long we were all supposed to be this certain size, this size 0 or size 2. For my body that’s not a happy life. I would be miserable if I tried to get to that size, and I think even if I starved myself, to be honest, I don’t think I could even get to that size. My bones would be like, ‘We ain’t a size 2 girl, sorry.’”

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