We all know her as a WWE superstar who quickly rose to fame, but there is much more to Evans’ backstory than what you may initially think.
Lacey Evans was a military police officer and secondary Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) on the Special Reactions Team (SRT). She did five years in active duty, and three of those five years in active reserves.
Continue reading to find out all about Lacey’s experiences as a former Marine, as well as her rise to stardom in the WWE world.
Emerging From a Rough Childhood
Born on the 24th of March in 1990 in Georgia, Evans grew up in Parris Island, South Carolina in a troubled home. Both of her parents dealt with substance abuse, and her father later passed away from a drug overdose.
She has seven siblings, and had to live with them in tents at times while growing up due to the unstable home life that her parents had created. Evans once said on her childhood surrounded by depression and drugs:
“This is the life I saw and I knew I would never become that. While everyone was giving up around me, I had to make sure I didn’t.”
Despite the hardships within her family, Evans was determined to lead a different life. She started wrestling in high school and eventually became state champion, but she also focused on her studies.
Following her graduation from high school, Lacey became a student full-time at university studying to become a nursing assistant. Nearing the end of her Bachelor at 19 years old, she decided to enlist in the US military.
She has been quite open about coming from a broken home, stating:
“I do come from a broken home. Statistically, I shouldn’t even be talking to you right now. But I refuse to let how I was raised dictate who I’m going to become. I had nothing, I come from nothing, but I am something and I will continue to be something.”
She also added, “I don’t give up; I go down fighting in everything I do — being a mother, being a wife, being a wrestler, being a Marine, being a sister.”
US Marine Veteran
Around the same time as her job in the Marine Corps, Lacey also started her own business in construction. At just 22 years old, she had employed some of her siblings, and bought houses for them.
At some point during her early 20s, she had to live out of her car. She used the shower facilities at her local gym, and often parked in a Walgreens parking lot.
“I had to live in my car one time in this whole process and I hated every minute of it because that’s what I came from. But I had to. But that was alright because I knew I could [do it].”
While in the Marine Corps, Lacey was a military police officer on a SWAT team, which was the Special Reaction Team. In a 2019 interview, she revealed in-depth her experiences.
“I was the only female on the SWAT team” adding, “I was one of the boys, for sure.”
Watch her full interview below:
While working in the Marines, Lacey had another taste of wrestling when a sergeant invited her to one of their wrestling events. She competed against the sergeant, who was well over 200-pounds, and became even more interested in the sport.
In 2014, she commenced in the independent circuit, where she would train at the American Premier Wrestling facility in Georgia. She then won the World Heavyweight Championship, and signed to WWE in 2016.
WWE Powerhouse
Nicknamed “The Lady of WWE”, Lacey is known for her blend of glamour and fierceness. WWE describes her as “the glamour of a pin-up model with the discipline of a warrior.”
She wrestled in the Mae Young Classic, and also the 2019 Royal Rumble Match.