Former WWE Superstar Layla reveals why she turned down a $250,000 Playboy offer.
Former WWE Women’s Champion Layla was the latest guest on the INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet podcast. During the conversation, she confirmed that she did turn down a lucrative offer to do an Extreme Exposé for Playboy back in 2007. She mentioned that former WWE star Maria Kannelis did the cover and that she, Kelly Kelly, and Brooke Adams also got the offer.
“Yes. Well, actually, it wasn’t just me at first. So, what happened was we were called into the office, and it was Kelly Kelly, Brooke Adams, and myself. I think it was 2007, I think Maria actually did the cover, and they were like, we want to do extreme expose for Playboy, and I was like, no. I’m not too sure what they said, but then because I didn’t want to do extreme expose, they offered Kelly Kelly and myself individually, and I think they’d offered me like $250,000 to do it. I was like, no, I’m not doing it,” Layla said.
Layla says she was scared to accept the Playboy offer because she’s Arab
Layla then explained that she was afraid to take up the Playboy offer because of her Arab roots. The former WWE star shared that she feared the backlash from her traditional Muslim Moroccan family and her brother, even though she later felt a bit of financial regret since the payday could have allowed her to retire immediately.
“Honestly, I was really scared, because a lot of people don’t know this, I’m Arab. So my actual family, I’m an immigrant in England, but I’m of Moroccan heritage. So I was concerned that my family, who were Muslim. I was always told don’t do anything like that, you can’t, so I was also very scared of what [they would think]. My brother would have been so mad. So that’s why I said no. I was just like, I think that’s going too far. What I’m doing already is a lot with them and all the modeling stuff. I’m glad I said no, because I really couldn’t see myself going through the shoot. But I’m also sad I said no, because I could have probably retired that year,” Layla said.
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