Willow Nightingale opens up about her battle with depression
New AEW Women’s World Champion Willow Nightingale has opened up about her battle with depression.
While Nightingale defeated Thekla at AEW Redemption to become the new Women’s World Champion, hours before that, she addressed her mental health.
Nightingale reflected on battling depression for the past year and how she has fought through it while smiling.
Speaking to AEW’s Countdown show ahead of AEW Redemption, the former TBS Champion recalled all the expectations on her shoulders and feeling depressed for over the past year.
“I think there are a lot of expectations that come with being Willow Nightingale and being like the smiley happy person. It’s been hard. I think I’ve been depressed for about a year, and I’ve just had to find a way to strap a smile on, put my twinkly boots on, and find a way to keep going, and, um… I could sit here right now and tell you I’m on all these flights and I’m doing this so often.
“I’m missing my family’s birthday party. I’m missing weddings. But we all do it. What makes me more deserving than anybody else? It’s not even a matter about deserving. It’s just, I’m in this position. The opportunities are there. I’m taking them, and I’m excelling, and at the end of the day, that’s what makes you a champion,” Nightingale said.
Later, at the AEW Redemption post-show media scrum, Nightingale also opened up about her self-diagnosis of depression and how AEW has a therapist within their team that travels with them. She also emphasized AEW’s importance in mental health.
With Nightingale as the new champion, she is now scheduled to face Mercedes Mone at AEW All In 2026.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
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