- This and more coming up on "The Whitney Reynolds Show."

- I was born missing my right leg.

And it was kind of crazy because back then, they didn't have the technology that they have now.

So the doctors did not expect it.

- Domestic violence can and does happen to, can happen to anyone.

And there's this perception out there that doesn't happen to somebody who's educated.

- And it wasn't until I was on my trip to St. Barts that I get a call that they found something, and that was an un-invasive tumor, and so I went back again for an MRI, and then they found a second invasive tumor.

- "The Whitney Reynolds Show" is supported by BMO, only grow the good in business and life, The Together At Peace Foundation, remembrance, resilience and comfort, creating a hopeful space for those who are grieving.

Kevin O'Connor Law Firm.

When it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

10 West Real Estate Group, providing multifamily investment and property management services.

Center For Beautiful Living, empowering people to live rich, robust, and beautiful lives.

Additional funding provided by facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Stacey McClain, lifeway Keeper.

Respiratory Health Association.

Kevin Kelly, Kid Friendly Venues app, joeperillo.com.

Hi-5 Sports Club, and by these sponsors.

(upbeat energetic music) - Hello, and welcome to the "Whitney Reynolds Show."

Today we are talking about inner strength.

Our guest met the storm saw it eye to eye, and emerged not only unbroken, but also empowered.

Awakening the soul of our story.

♪ Come for the stories ♪ ♪ Stay for the heart ♪ ♪ Where every journey is ♪ And sharing those in a safe space to inspire others.

♪ Whitney's here to share your dream ♪ ♪ It's the Whitney Reynolds Show ♪ - Yo, I'm watching the Whitney Reynolds Show.

♪ From Chicago to your home ♪ ♪ Real voices, real lives in every episode ♪ ♪ This is the Whitney Reynolds Show ♪ - Born with just one leg, Anthony Robles faced adversity from the very beginning.

He's proof that the obstacle, and you know we all have 'em, you, me, we all do.

They're a little different, but those obstacles can actually be the thing that lights the fire in our spirit.

- So why does this, why do you wrestle?

When people look at me, the first thing they see is what's missing - From the mat to the big screen, Anthony Robles is unstoppable, born with one leg he defies all odds in the world of wrestling.

And now his inspiring story is coming to Amazon.

Tell the viewers a little bit about your history.

- So, you know, I was born missing my right leg.

And it was kind of crazy because back then they didn't have the technology that they have now.

So the doctors did not expect it.

And so basically my mom was there and you know, they took me outta the operating room.

She's like, "Where are you taking my son?

I wanna see my son."

And they came back to her and told her "He was born missing his right leg."

And growing up, I didn't understand it.

You know, I didn't understand why kids and adults would be looking at me as I'm walking down the street, but luckily I was blessed with an amazing mother who always taught me to not focus on what I didn't have.

And so that was just my mentality from here growing up.

Just do the best of what I had.

And that everything was for a reason.

- So many of us, we have all these different things going on and, you know, I might not be missing a leg, but I had a challenging childhood as well.

And with that, how did you get to that point of not moving past it, but channeling that?

- I started to learn that through wrestling when I got introduced to it because, you know, growing up everyone said, or focused what I couldn't do.

But wrestling, that wrestling mat was my platform to kind of control the narrative of my life, you know?

It's like I have the power now to show people it didn't matter what I didn't have, you know?

And it didn't matter what a point I was facing, whether it was flesh and blood or something else.

And I think that's how I see the world.

And I think that everyone else in it needs to see it the same way.

It's, yeah, you're gonna have a challenge, you know, you're gonna have something that's negative or that can hold you back.

But you know, what is your mentality and what is your focus throughout all of it?

You know, ultimately you have the power to respond to an opponent the way you wanna respond to it.

If you focus on what you can't do, you know, then you're never gonna be able to accomplish what you want.

- The champ is here!

The celebration dinner for Anthony!

(group cheering) - Wow, and your mom in the movie was such a strong mom and was played by J.Lo, I wanna know, like, was your mom just thrilled when they said, "Okay, J.Lo's gonna play your role."

And the way it came off?

- Yeah, she absolutely was excited about it.

And I got to break the news through over the phone and she didn't believe me.

She's like, "You're joking, right?

this isn't reality."

And you know, but, I mean, Jennifer Lopez did an outstanding job just portrayed my mom, just her strong essence, and you know, I tell people, my mom was my mom and my dad growing up, you know, she's my hero and she's someone I learned so much from as a kid.

So to have Jennifer Lopez play her and to really understand her and how important she was to me, it was very special.

- Yeah, the bond that you and your mom share, walk us through how that made you this unstoppable person you are.

- You know, it was interesting just growing up because inside my household, my family, and especially my mom, she never made missing a leg a big deal.

But when I stepped outside of the house, it seemed like everybody else in the world did.

- Mm.

- I mean, they saw me for what I didn't have, and I didn't understand it.

But, you know, coming home every day from school, you know, when I was doubting myself and just having those self-confidence issues, it was my mom that would kind of recharge me again, you know, to go out back in the world.

So just continuously doing that throughout my life, it helped me to fight those daily battles.

- And your mom experienced domestic violence.

Tell me, did that...

Seeing that in your household, maybe give you that extra fire to become so strong and be able to protect?

- It absolutely did, and you know, I think in wrestling, when I got introduced to wrestling, I used that in a way, you know, just to... My extra training to get stronger, to be able to protect my family.

And, but you know, I think I was able to use those negative things as motivation.

- Mm.

- You know, to find a way to kind of improve myself throughout those trials and things that were thrown my way that could hold me back.

My mom and I, we started our own foundation charity, the Robles Unstoppable Foundation.

- Unstoppable Foundation, yes.

- You know, we're just trying... Just trying to really give back to our community.

- Wow.

- And I know there's people, like I said, that are wrestling through things in their lives.

- Well, and you live not only through like making the team, but you also lived through a time when the program got cut and then it came back.

But when it came back, I mean, tell the viewers.

- I'll never forget just getting that phone call that it had been cut.

- Yeah.

- I remember just working at my job at the airport and my phone was ringing.

And so I finally answered one of the calls, and it was actually from a reporter asking, you know, "What are your thoughts on AUC dropping their program?"

And I felt like someone just took the floor out from underneath me and I was like, everything I had worked for was just immediately gone all over again.

And that was heartbreaking.

But, you know, for the Arizona State alumni to come together, the rest of the alumni to basically donate money to self endow the program for a few years, that was special.

- Yes.

- You know, it kept me home.

They offered me the full ride rest of the scholarship.

- Which is huge.

A full ride.

- Absolutely.

- I was still waiting on mine from Baylor.

(Anthony laughing) - Yeah, and they brought you back and that's when you really started channeling that inner champion.

When did you know that you could win it all?

- Well, you know, I think coming through as a high school wrestler, you know, it was always my dream to wrestle at national championship and be a national champ.

But I'd say it really mentally, just... it was something that I felt like it could be a reality, my junior year.

- Mm.

- You know, I think I was always chasing that as a goal.

But my junior year, believe it or not, when I lost and I got that stack of letters from the group of third graders that inspired me to get to the mountaintop because I felt like up until that point, I was kind of wrestling to prove a point, you know, to try to prove people wrong.

Like, "You're wrong, I can do this, I can do this."

But now these kids, they were inspiring me in a way to show them that anything was possible.

- Oh, yeah.

- And so for me it was like, it was wrestling at a different level for a different cause.

- Wow.

- And it wasn't just a medal anymore.

And so that for me is like, "Man, I'm gonna go out there and just give it my all."

And I felt like, you know, it was special my senior year.

- It was very special.

I felt like when I was watching, I was there with you.

I was chanting with everybody else.

I do wanna go to this point, though, that you said, and it was about the goal and that like, if you don't have the, the dream to chase after, what am I doing?

And this is a moment where I felt like, okay, did you have to cultivate another dream after that?

Because as we know, college does come to an end.

How did you, after graduation reformat kind of what your dream was?

- Yeah, that was a difficult time in my life.

I remember winning my championship and thinking, you know "What do I do next?

What's next to my life?"

And it was actually credit to one of my assistant wrestling coaches at a SU.

And, you know, I'm talking to him and tell him I'm trying to figure things out.

And he's like, "Well, you know what?

Those kids really touched your life, Why don't you use that?"

You know?

- Wow.

- And try to touch others.

And so I really started to look into public speaking and really just trying to give back.

- Yeah.

- Because I wouldn't be where I am today without those special people in my life like my mom, like my coaches, those kids, they motivated me, you know?

When I needed it, and it's like, if I could do that for someone else, that that'd be a really cool way to just, to live and to give back.

- In the movie we saw that a box of cards came your way of just like, people that saw you persevere through your way to win.

When you first got in, you went out as a walk-on and you had a whole other scholarship somewhere else.

That's another big decision that you had to make.

Is it just because you doubled down on yourself?

- I did, you know, and it was weird, because I remember, you know, coming outta high school and just, in a way, I felt very disrespected.

- Mm.

- Just because I felt like I had the resume.

You know, I was - Yeah!

- Mostly high school state champ.

I had great grades and the colleges still didn't recruit me, you know?

And for what they saw is something that could hold me back, and so, you know, that to me was something, it was extra motivation and people thought I was crazy when I turned down Drexel.

And, you know, I was telling myself in my head, I was crazy, but I just remember this voice in my head saying, you're not supposed to be there.

- Mm.

- You know, that this isn't home for you.

And, you know, it was very important for me to be around my family.

I felt like they were my strength, but also I wanted to be their protector at certain points.

And so to be home, it was definitely a harder journey to go through, but it was worth it.

And I think looking back on that journey, the challenges, you know, the trials, it made me stronger.

And so I'm, I'm grateful for that now.

You know, I would say that, you know, everyone reaches their breaking point at certain times in their life, you know, but that's normal, that's what makes you human.

But the key thing is take a moment.

You know, when you get to that point, just take a moment, take a breath and ask yourself, how am I gonna respond to this?

'Cause yeah, there might be a list of reasons to where you can't accomplish your goal, but there might be one reason to where you can actually accomplish it.

And so focus on that one thing.

Focus on that one thing in your life that you have, and just use that to your advantage to the very end.

Because, you know, you could be that 1%, you could be the one with the missing leg who becomes a national champ, but it's gonna start and it's gonna end up here.

- Mm, you are a true champion inside and out.

Thank you so much for coming on.

In every corner of our communities, there are deep stories, sometimes behind closed doors.

Our next guest is breaking the stigma and opening the door on her story when it comes to domestic violence.

- Rewriting the narrative around domestic violence is the goal of Tracy Meyer.

She believes that every victim has the power to take back control and emerge as a victor, even from their darkest chapters.

A story that once encountered pain now echoes so much empowerment.

She's gone public with it to remind others, they too can reclaim their voice and change the conversation around domestic violence.

- What I'm really connecting with your story is all these things were happening and then it spiraled and here you are, - Domestic violence can and does happen to, can happen to anyone.

And there's this perception out there that doesn't happen to somebody who's educated.

- And there's women and even men, I mean, abuse happens on both sides.

But there are people watching today that are probably in that same whittled down posture you are in.

It's like, "How the heck did I get here?"

- So what I would say to them is, you know, you are not alone, and if you feel like something isn't right, trust your instinct.

When you're dealing with a person who's manipulative and when the gaslighting comes in, they're intentionally trying to tap dance with your brain.

That is the whole motivation to get you to begin questioning everything.

To the point where you think, "Am I going nuts?"

What I would say to somebody else is, only person who has control over your brain, in your mind, is you.

- After going through her divorce with her longtime partner and father to her kids, she started dating, and thought she had met someone who checked all the boxes.

Full of hope, she uprooted her life and took a leap for love.

Yet that leap took a very dark turn.

You got into a relationship and that relationship turned violent.

- I was in a bad car accident years ago, and I ended up with an injury, it's called cervical dizziness.

If there's pressure put on my cervical spine on two discs, it literally will make me dizzy and nauseous.

He knew that.

So he would put his arm around my neck and he would push on that area.

He would pinch me in, and he would force me to, you know, lay certain ways in bed that he knew were uncomfortable.

Just, I mean, sick.

And I couldn't prove it.

I couldn't prove that that happened.

By the grace of God, I found the strength to pull my self up.

- There was that moment of "I gotta pull myself."

- Yeah!

- Out of this.

- Yes.

And I remember the day that I stood and I looked in the mirror and I didn't recognize the woman who was looking back at me.

I can ebb and flow all day long with everything else, but the goalpost does not shift when it comes to my core values.

I looked in the mirror and said, "Who is this woman?

I don't know her."

Scared the hell outta me.

And was the day that I said, "Alright, I don't care what it takes.

I am going to plan my escape.

I have to get outta here."

- At that moment, did you ever feel that your life was in danger, not only mentally, but your real life could be in danger?

- Yes.

I knew he had access to unlimited resources.

Right?

- Right.

- Probably had seven, eight attorneys on his team alone, though, in my mind, I'm spinning all this like, what chance do I stand (chuckles) against this guy if I try to, you know, fight him in any way?

I didn't say a word about any of this when things were so bad, I didn't tell my family or anyone because I didn't want anybody to worry about me.

- You're touching on something interesting about being a mom, you don't want your kids to worry about you.

- I didn't want my mom, you know, my mother, I didn't want my boys to worry about me.

I felt like I needed to figure out what I was gonna do first, but I also think there was part of me that was pushing that off because I felt so stupid.

- Why was there shame?

- I felt like you are an intelligent woman.

You know, you are a great mom.

You know, your marriage wasn't bad.

You came from a great family.

You have wonderful friends.

How could I not be more aware of these things?

You know, how could I let this happen to me?

What did I miss?

- And there are so many people, relating with you right now on that thought.

- Like, what did I miss?

Because here's the thing, and I know this now because I work in this space, is we end up blaming ourselves, "What did I do wrong?"

- Mm.

- You know, you feel the shame and embarrassment because you think you are the problem.

And that's not true.

- Right.

- It is never, ever the fault of the victim.

- You're saying, "Hey, I felt shame.

I experienced this firsthand, and maybe some women aren't me and can get out."

So now you are helping other people in similar situations.

- I don't know honestly what provoked me, but I was part of a North Shore women's mom group on Facebook, it's like 17,000 women.

I went on there and I posted three or four sentences about what happened to me.

- And this was the first time you were really putting it out there, - Putting it out there.

And I just briefly said what happened to me.

And although I'm surrounded by all this love, I feel so alone.

And I had 262 women respond to that post.

- By sharing her own story, she's helping others find their strength to reclaim their voices, by changing the conversation around domestic violence she's helping people find community and healing.

Tracy now works with the nonprofit wings in the domestic violence space, supporting victors to find strength and rise above.

Isn't it remarkable though, that when you do release your story and you typed those three sentences, how this just wave?

- Yes.

- Of "I am okay.

And I live to tell the story, and now I'm helping others."

- And along the way, you know, educating myself and learning more about domestic violence, which I did just on my own and learning very quickly that it was not my fault.

And although I owned that shame for quite some time, it was never mine to own.

- How did you free yourself of that?

Because I love that what you're saying, but I feel like there's probably people watching at home that still have not been able just to free themselves.

- Yeah.

I think for me, I never felt sorry for myself.

- It's a hard subject, - Right?

It's really tough.

But cancer was hard to talk about 20 years ago too.

Mental health was hard to talk about five years ago.

It's not anymore, right?

We need to get to that place where we can talk about this subject in a more open and relaxed way.

So how can I make that happen?

Coming from a background of luxury, fashion and beauty, which is beautiful and joyous, I thought, "What if I start creating events and ways to bring people together in that type of space where they're showing up for something they really enjoy."

But then we have that window of opportunity to engage them in what we're doing and we have that opportunity to educate, engage and find a way to touch their heartstrings.

Domestic violence is pervasive.

It affects one in three women and one in four men in their lifetime.

So we're not talking about something that's like one in a thousand.

- It is high number.

- Start counting the heads.

Like anywhere you're at, you're at the gym, you're on the train, you're on a flight, you're out to dinner, just start counting heads.

And that's how many people that close to you.

When we say to people, everyone knows someone, we say it because it's true.

You may not know who that person is.

- Right?

- But everyone knows someone.

But we have to find more ways to teach people and show them how it is relevant, how it is relatable, and how they need to, instead of turning away from it, find the courage to turn toward it.

Every single week I talk to women and in the course of our conversation they discover they have been abused and didn't even know it.

You have so many blessings.

You need to find the silver lining in your experience and use it to help other people.

And once I turned that corner, there was no stopping me.

- Well, I am one of those heads, and so I appreciate you for being bold with your story.

So we realize we're not alone.

Thank you so much for coming on.

- Thanks for having me, Whitney.

(soft bright music) - It takes courage to do what Tracy did here today.

Continuing with another strong woman, we sat down with a real housewife of Miami whose reality shaped her inner strength.

Welcome to the show.

- I'm so happy to be here with you.

- You just have this energy.

You walked into the studio and everything just got brighter, - You know, not for everyone.

It's what I realized in life.

And I'm a Haitian born girl that was raised in Paris and that came to the US without speaking a word of English.

And obviously teased and bullied and so forth.

And I knew that I had something in me that, you know, was unique, and I kept that resilience through and through while I was learning a new language and battling a lot of different obstacles.

- A vibrant soul and living a glamorous life.

Guerdy Abraira known for the Real Housewives of Miami, walks us through her newfound reality.

- I walked out of there saying, "Okay, on to St. Barts I'm going."

And it wasn't until I was on my trip to St. Barts that I get a call that they found something and that was an noninvasive tumor, until I went back again for an MRI and then they found a second invasive tumor.

So it was a trickle down slow trickle of information.

And that's what, you know, people don't understand that you don't just get diagnosed and it's a flat out - Right.

- Deal where there's A and B solution and it's not a perfect formula.

There's always a wave because there's different tests and different tests tells you different diagnosis.

So it was a very layered process where it started out with me just needing a lumpectomy surgery and I was like, "Yes, I can do this."

And then for me needing chemo, and radiation, yada, yada, yada.

And so this, the journey was definitely an emotional rollercoaster that I wanted to get off from.

- So for your family, how did they cope with this diagnosis as well?

- He's so funny 'cause my husband just recently was telling me, we were going to couples therapy, and that's another thing as far as like, you know, post cancer, you have PTSD.

And so, you know, he was bottling so much strength and so forth that his emotions were deep down inside, and so now we're going to counseling because we want to make sure that everyone's able to move forward to our new normal.

You can't go back there.

- Right!

- Whatever happened in the past is the past.

You're a new person, you know, it's an evolution.

But it takes a toll on the whole family.

And so our goal was just to create a safety net for the kids, emotionally and to be like, "Mommy's gonna be okay.

That's the end result, now, how we get there is gonna be a little rough, but we're gonna make it and mommy's gonna be okay."

So that's what we held onto the hope and that little light at the end of the tunnel.

- You've mentioned the word hope a few times.

- Yes.

- Was that what carried you through?

- It's hope and strength and focus.

You know, it is a little bit of everything.

There's a medley and it may not work for some people, maybe people, some other people or something else, but you have to try to articulate and figure out exactly what works for you to be able to push through.

- Oh, I love that.

- Because one thing that I realized in fighting was you have to take it second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour.

And I'm a planner, so my goal was like, "How do I get better?

I don't wanna know about this.

I want just have end result."

And everyone's like, "No, ma'am.

No, ma'am.

No, ma'am.

Sit down, have a seat."

(Whitney chuckles) "It's gonna be a slow drip drip."

You know, so I had to learn how to like, refocus my mind and release the control that I usually have because I now became a patient where I had no control.

- Right.

- So you have to understand for me was very difficult because I know there's a lot of us women, A type personalities, which most of us do get breast cancer because of the stress, I think.

But it was for me to be like, "Okay, let me swallow this big humbling pill."

- And you said you had to retrain your brain.

- Yes.

- For the viewers at home, that could be maybe not in the same situation.

- Right.

- But, you know, in this whole, like, having to reformat, how did you do that?

Was there something that helped you get there?

- Well, I just tried to use words because I feel like with words, there's definition and there's meaning.

So I was like, "Okay, be selfish.

What does that look like?

Selfish.

In the morning, do I go straight to my kitchen and make my kids breakfast?

No."

"Guys, lemme show you how to make eggs.

Now they're on their own.

So now I get up, I do my breathing exercises.

I get up, I take a five mile walk if I can.

I take care of me.

Self-care is so important.

Even just like, you know, the best lotions and investing in all those things that make you feel good.

You feel good, you look good, you look good, you do good, and so it's a trickle down effect in all those ways, and I'm trying to act them out.

- Yes.

- To the best of my ability, you know?

So, yeah.

- Thank you so much for coming on.

- Thank you!

(soft bright music) - Let me catch you up.

(tense dramatic music) - The outer bank stars also weighed in on today's topic.

Head over to the PBS app and search Whitney Reynolds for their interview.

Inner strength is not just about facing adversity, it's about knowing your worth and rising after the fall.

Remember, your story matters.

(upbeat bright music) (upbeat bright music) (upbeat bright music) (upbeat bright music) - Whitney Reynolds Show is supported by BMO.

Only grow the good in business and life with Together At Peace Foundation, remembrance, resilience and comfort, creating a hopeful space for those who are grieving.

Kevin O'Connor Law Firm.

When it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

10 West Real Estate Proof, providing multifamily investment and property management Services.

Center For Beautiful Living, empowering people to live rich, robust, and beautiful lives.

Additional funding provided by facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Stacey McClain, lifeway Keeper.

Respiratory Health Association, Kevin Kelly, Kid Friendly Venues App, joeperillo.com High-5 Sports Club, and by these sponsors.

(upbeat bright music) - Want to stay connected to all things Whitney Reynolds?

Well, follow us on social media, and you'll get exclusive content and updates from the show.

All episodes are available for streaming anytime.

- [Kids] Hi, Mommy!

(kids giggling) (soft bright music)