"I really needed to step away" - 34-year-old opens up about leaving WWE in 2020

A 34-year-old star recently opened up about their departure from WWE in 2020.

Cathy Kelley joined WWE in 2016 after working at AfterBuzz TV and hosting her podcast, Chatting with Cathy. She made her NXT TV debut on September 25, 2019, but departed the company less than a year later. She cited travel as the reason for leaving the company but ultimately returned in October 2022.

Speaking to Ryan Satin on the Out of Character podcast, Cathy Kelley discussed her departure from WWE three years ago and admitted that she was dealing with mental health issues.

"It was really challenging [leaving WWE]. I think at the time, I said it was for reasons of to pursue other things and I still believe I could have pursued all of those things within WWE. But, I felt at the time, I really needed to step away. My mental health had really declined. I’ve struggled with depression and panic attacks, anxiety, basically from high school-on, on and off and it was really tough," said Cathy Kelley.

Kelley continued:

"Like I said, I felt like the initial week of messing up on live TV kind of loomed over me for a while. But, I struggled to try to get to that place that I wanted to be at which is being the backstage interviewer on one of the main shows." [H/T: Post Wrestling]

Cathy Kelley on her initial struggles in WWE

Cathy Kelley disclosed that she wanted to be a backstage interviewer on the main roster but felt burned out in 2020.

During her conversation on the Out of Character podcast, Cathy Kelley shared that she tried too hard to prove herself and ended up burning herself out. Kelley added that it was discouraging to see someone else in the position she was working so hard for.

"I would be written into a script and they would tell me that-that segment wasn’t actually gonna happen on the pay-per-view or whatever it is and then you would see someone else in that position and so it gets really discouraging after a while. I ended up burning myself out towards the end as well of I was trying to prove myself, prove that I was the right option to be in that position and I was not just going to NXT, not just doing the in-studio stuff in Stamford, not just going to the main roster shows and the pay-per-views at the time but, coming up with other concepts and you end up burning out," she said. [H/T: Post Wrestling]

Cathy Kelley has achieved her goal of becoming a backstage interviewer on the main roster. She can currently be seen every Friday night on WWE SmackDown.

Who is your favorite backstage interviewer in the company? Let us know in the comments section below.