Leah Van Dale may have won multiple championships in the WWE ring as “Carmella,” but life as a new mom and building a platform to support female-focused issues, has been her favorite challenge to date. Now expecting a second child, Van Dale sat down with M&F Hers to discuss her boldly titled community; “Snatch,” and why she wishes her new guide “The First 30—a straightforward, expert-backed survival guide for the first 30 days postpartum,” had been around when she first found herself grappling with motherhood.
When Leah Van Dale last opened up to M&F Hers, in early 2023, “Carmella” had made her return to WWE after an immensely difficult time that saw her and husband Matt Polinski (the pro wrestling commentator known as “Corey Graves”) suffer the heartbreak of miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy.But her return to the squared circle would be short lived, as she became happily pregnant once again, meaning that Van Dale would hang up her wrestling boots and get to grips with motherhood instead.
The couple now have an almost 2-year-old son, Dimitri, and are expecting their second boy in a mere matter of weeks. And while swapping the ring mat for the teething ring has been a joy overall, Van Dale recognizes that there are still women out there who aren’t getting the support that they need, or the right questions answered, when they embark on life’s most difficult but ultimately rewarding challenge. To that end, the star has put together the women’s focused platform, “Snatch”—a community that she boldly titled as a way of challenging the idea that some conversations are off limits. “That’s basically the whole point,” explains Van Dale. “It’s bold, it’s in your face, it gets people talking, and that’s what I wanted to do, get people feeling a little comfortable, or feeling comfortable with the uncomfortable.”
Leah Van Dale Wants Women to ‘Snatch’ Those Important Conversations
Van Dale tells M&F Hers that the purpose behind Snatch is to open-up new ways for women to communicate, in a comfortable environment and with expert support, on a range of intimate topics from sex and fertility to pregnancy and motherhood. “Because, I felt like it was something I needed when I was going through my miscarriages, and then when I had my son, it was a very traumatic birthing experience, and I had a very difficult time postpartum, and I just felt like, why aren’t we talking about these things? There’s so much unknown with our own bodies as women,” explains Van Dale. “We have a lot of experts in there, we have postpartum specialists, we have women who are mental health experts, we have lactation consultants, and IVF specialists educating women on fertility. I’m just really proud and excited to see where it goes.”
The demand for straightforward advice on sensitive topics is undoubtedly there. “I’m in there every single day replying to people, but there’s also women replying to each other and messaging each other, and expert help, which is really great,” she reveals. “There are five different chats. We have a sex space, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood.
Whatever it is that you’re going through, you can go into that corresponding area and chat with other women about those topics.”
Snatch has built up a global community of 500 women in around a year, and the star tells M&F that she hopes that her platform will prevent women from scrambling around online like she did when looking for answers about her own experiences. “Falling down Reddit rabbit holes, honestly,” she recalls. “I really had no idea where to go. I was on all these forums, down dark holes and just spiraling out of control. It really was not a fun time, and that’s why I just turned to social media and told my story and was open about it, because I felt like, if I’m going through this, I know there are other women that are going through this. When I came out with it, it wasn’t my intention at the time to start this sort of movement, but it’s just kind of what happened.”
Leah Van Dale Hopes to Make the First 30 Days of Motherhood More Manageable
Conceiving a child is serious business, but Van Dale soon found out first-hand, with the birth of Dimitri, that this is just the beginning of her biggest, and yet her most rewarding challenge to date. The very notion of being allowed to care for your own little human is another area that, in many ways, is still shrouded in mystery she feels. “It’s like, you have so many appointments when you’re pregnant, and you can take all the classes and read all the books, but then all of a sudden, you have this newborn, and they’re like, ‘See you later!’” jokes Van Dale. “It’s like, ‘Go home and just, you know, be careful.’ But what am I supposed to do? You have no idea what to do.”
Indeed, attaining academic qualifications means passing exams, and driving a car requires earning your license, but caring for your kids offers no such buffer. “It’s so overwhelming,” reflects Van Dale. “And, so I basically have created a guide for mothers for those first 30 days at home, with expert advice. We have a sleep consultant, teaching you about safety for sleeping with your baby, a lactation consultant, whether you’re breastfeeding or bottle feeding, there’s so many different pieces of advice in there. We have a mental health expert and a postpartum doula, all giving this amazing information without it feeling overwhelming, because it’s so hard to know what you’re going to need with your baby until your baby’s home with you.”
Leah Van Dale was a WWE Women’s Champion, and a WWE Tag Team Champion and so, in the time-tested tradition of pro wrestlers, she can never rule out a return to the ring. “I mean, it’s just a matter of time before everyone goes back,” jokes the woman also known as The Princess of Staten Island. “Sometimes you think somebody’s completely down, you’re like, ‘Oh, they’ll never be back in WWE’, and they always show up. So, I’m well aware of that, and I am open to it. Right now, I’m just very focused on being a mom and growing my platform, and obviously I’m pregnant, so there’s no way I can even think about wrestling anytime soon. But I’m definitely not closing the door on it. I think it would be fun at some point to go back and have my sons see what I do.” For now, however, this glowing mother will be rumbling on with her gloriously growing family.
To sign-up for Snatch, click here:
To follow Leah Van Dale on Instagram, click here.
The First 30 will be released on August 28. For further information, click here.
