Daria Berenato, better known as WWE star Sonya Deville, proposed to her girlfriend Toni Cassano last week and just made the news public via an interview with People. Deville spoke glowingly about her partner to the magazine, saying, “I could go on for days about the way I feel about this woman, I never knew love could feel so happy and safe all at the same time. I found my best friend, my soul mate and my life partner all in one incredible human. She is the epitome of my ride or die. To be able to show her and her two daughters how much they all mean to me was what this proposal was all about. They are my world and now we are one family forever together.”
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Deville also talked about being an openly gay wrestler in the WWE — “It’s so cool to me to be in this position right now, to be engaged as a gay female in the WWE, and to have proposed to my fiancée. Because I look back at seven years ago, eight years ago when I wasn’t even openly out yet, and I was hiding relationships, and I was still trying to figure out my comfortability with being gay and who I was. So, I think it’s crazy to see the evolution of my life and my journey and the fans that have been able to come along that journey with me. I think now it’s just so cool to be like, ‘I never thought I’d be here, but look guys, I’m here and you guys can do it too. It’s okay to be who you are. It’s okay to love who you love, and it’s so special and so important to accept yourself.’”
The New Jersey native first stepped into the wrestling world via the sixth season of the Tough Enough series, and while she failed to win the competition she still signed a developmental contract with WWE in October 2015. She made her main roster debut two years later alongside Mandy Rose and Paige as the faction Absolution and would go on to team with and feud against Rose for years. She’d lose a “Loser Leaves WWE” match against Rose at the 2020 SummerSlam event, but returned the following year in an on-air authority figure role to work alongside Adam Pearce. She’d eventually lose her position after attempting to abuse her power against the likes of Naomi and Bianca Belair and has since pivoted back to a full-time wrestling role.
