Known in the ring as Sonia Devil, Daria Berenato signed with WWE in 2015. Previous versions of this story said Berenato was the first gay WWE Superstar, not the first openly gay WWE Superstar. We atone for this error.
Daria Berenato caused history when she became the first gay WWE Superstar. However, their path to self-acceptance on the national stage has not always been smooth sailing. The 27-year-old best known to WWE fans as Sonya DeVille said: “I had to start accepting because there were all these amazing people who accepted my head.”
Daria has always held an athlete – she grew up against New Jersey and did everything from four-wheel drive to running to basketball. Then, in high school, he started watching the UFC, attracted by the fact that women could fight mixed martial arts. Soon his mother started driving every day for 45 minutes to the nearest martial arts gym.
“Every day after school, I got involved in training and fell in love with it,” says Berenato. “I thought, ‘This is what I want to do. I will try. And I started taking acting classes around the 14th. I wanted to move and fight, and I didn’t know these two could come together in one world until I met WWE in 2015.”
The introduction came from Maria Menounos, who was friends with Berenato when he moved to Los Angeles. Menounos was asked to appear in the WWE racing series Tough Enough, and although he was not interested, he considered recommending Berenato for the concert.
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Appearing in the series’ sixth season in 2015, Berenato quickly fell in love with combat and organization. He spent four weeks on the show before leaving, a process he described as “intense.” During filming, Berenato went public, which was not necessarily his intention.
Daria Berenato, also known as Sonia Devil
Although his family and close friends have known Berenato to be gay for years, he told PEOPLE, “At the time, I wasn’t 100 percent happy with myself and my sexuality to be open about it.”
Berenato was asked about their relationship status in the context of the photo, “posing somehow,” he said. Then he revealed that he had a girlfriend. Now the athlete thinks it’s “the best thing that has ever happened to me … because it may take me years to achieve that openness.”