Former WWE star Shotzi revealed she was the victim of s–ual abuse for four years during her childhood. The abuse started when she was eight years old and continued until she was 12. She disclosed the information during a recent appearance on the Rulebreakers podcast, hosted by Saraya.
The abuse was perpetrated by her uncle, who had moved to the United States from the Philippines and was taken in by her mother. Shotzi stated that both she and her sister were victims.
“So… I was eight when it started. He moved to America from the Philippines and my mom took him in. And it — it was both me and my sister. And it lasted until I was 12… until I went to the police about it. Which actually made things a lot worse for me,” Shotzi said.
She described the aftermath of reporting the abuse as “the hardest part of my life,” detailing a profound betrayal by her mother. Shotzi stated her mother sided with the abuser, even using a home loan to pay for his lawyer to defend him in court.
“When I went to court for it — she was with him. And she actually… she actually paid for his lawyer. She took out a loan from the house to be able to get him a lawyer against me,” she explained.
Shotzi also said her mother verbally berated her after the allegations were made public. “She constantly would call me a wh–e. A sl–t. She would say that I w–ted it. Yeah. Like, to a 12-year-old. I’m like, ‘But it started when I was much younger.’”
The abuse came to light after Shotzi confided in a friend, who encouraged her to speak to a school counselor. The counselor then immediately reported the situation to the police.
Shotzi described the subsequent police interview as a terrifying and difficult experience. “Then I was taken to the police station. And it was so scary. Like, as a 12-year-old — like, I don’t even know how to explain these things that are happening to me… I was there for hours. It was a really grueling day.”
During the podcast, Shotzi emphasized the importance of survivors speaking out to combat the shame and embarrassment associated with s–ual trauma.
“Yeah… four years of s–ual abuse. And I just want to say like — you coming out about that is just like so powerful because I feel like a lot of people don’t want to talk about s–ual trauma,” she said, addressing Saraya. “So many women — and men too — go through it. And it leads to a lot of s–cídio. But if we talked about it more, we could, you know, prevent a lot of that.”