In 2020, we learned that Sonya Deville had been involved in a serious incident which saw a deranged stalker break into her home with a knife, zip ties, duct tape, and mace. He intended to kidnap her, though the police thankfully arrived and put an end to his chilling plan before it could get started.
Deville, real name Daria Berenato, was recently released by WWE in the midst of contract negotiations with the company. The news surprised fans, though she hasn't had a particularly compelling role on the roster for some time now.
Talking to Ariel Helwani, Deville revealed that former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon played a huge role in keeping her safe after what happened.
"I’m talking to Vince, because SummerSlam is coming up, and obviously he’s like, checking in on me. And he’s like, 'Are you okay?' He’s like, 'Why don’t you come to the venue? I want to say hi to you. I want to hug you.' And I was like, 'Okay,' so we drove to the venue. We saw him, Hunter was there, Stephanie was there."
She went on to say that McMahon asked her, "'What do you need for me?' And I was like, 'I don’t know. I don’t know.' He’s like, 'Well, are you going to be okay, like, staying back in your house?' And I was like, 'No, I don’t think I can go back there.' I looked on my ADT cameras, and there was reporters all over my front doorstep. And I’m like, 'I can’t, I can’t do this.'"
"Vince is like, 'No, what do you want to do? Do you need a place to stay?' And I’m like, 'Well, I don’t know. My dad’s coming down tomorrow. I’ll try to figure something out.' He’s like, 'Alright, we’ll get you a place to stay if you need a place to stay,'" Deville continued. "Vince rented a house for me to stay in in a different part of Florida."
"My mom came down and stayed with me. Mandy stayed with me a little bit. Mandy’s mom came and stayed and [Vince] hired 24/7 armed security. These guys had guns on their hips."
"And that’s where I went after there, and nobody knows that. Luckily, I got a call from Tampa Police Department a few days later, or whatever, and he [the stalker] was granted no bail. So then I was safe, but I didn’t feel safe. And the next, however many months, was a whirlwind. I went and got my right to carry. I finally moved myself into a high rise apartment where I thought I’d feel most secure," she concluded.
It's unclear what the future holds in store for Deville but recent remarks from the former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion have suggested she might be moving on from professional wrestling.
You can check out the full interview in the player below.