4 days ago
Exclusive: Leah Van Dale on Why ‘Nobody Talks About' This Part of Being a Mom to a Baby & Stepmom to Teens
You may have originally met Leah van Dale as WWE's Carmella — but in her new era, she's fully embracing being Leah. As both a mom and stepmom, Van Dale never wants moms to feel alone, or overwhelmed by the sea of knowledge new moms seemingly need to keep track of every detail.
Van Dale's superpower is to say the quiet parts out loud, making others feel as though they can explain all those emotions they don't know what to do with. And now, she's helping out mamas during their unique pregnancy journeys. Specifically, she helped create a workout program that soon-to-be moms will seriously adore … and she's giving fans all the details about what it's like being a mom to a baby and a stepmom to teens.
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Below, see what Van Dale had to say about her first trimester, Snatch's new program, and what being a stepmom is actually like.
In case you missed it, Van Dale and her husband, Matthew Polinsky — more commonly known as Corey Graves — announced that they were expecting baby number two. The pair announced the news of baby number two to their Instagram with the caption reading, 'All in perfect time … our new chapter begins this fall 🤍 .'
When asked how she's feeling, she didn't sugarcoat it: 'It's a lot more difficult than my first pregnancy. I feel like I'm just still nauseous. I'm well into the second trimester, and I still feel like I did in the beginning,' she said.
And while she's grateful, she's also honest about the lows — something she says people rarely talk about.
'There's so much we don't say. Everyone's like, 'I'm just so happy to be pregnant, and I should be grateful,' and I am. But both things can be true. I can be grateful [that I'm pregnant] and also not thrilled with how I'm feeling,' she said. 'We glorify pregnancy — like 'everything's perfect, look at my beautiful bump' — but that's not real. So many women I talk to say their first trimester was awful, but no one talks about it.'
Her postpartum journey birthed Snatch's six-week pregnancy workout program, created alongside her good friend Larissa Lyon, who Van Dale says 'was my personal trainer when I was pregnant with Dimitri.'
Van Dale founded Snatch to create a space for moms to talk openly — about everything from fertility to postpartum. Now, with its new workout program, it's not about 'bouncing back' — it's about preparing your body for labor and beyond.
'It's all about working from the inside out — core, breathwork, labor prep,' she said. 'We've got full-body workouts, upper and lower body, core mobility, stretching — 22 workouts total. I just know it's going to help so many moms.'
And that's just the beginning.
'We have a lot of micro-programs coming, like The First Thirty — everything you need to know for those first 30 days at home with your newborn. It's not just sleep or lactation — it's everything, without being overwhelming,' she said. 'We have a sleep consultant, a lactation expert, mental health support, pelvic floor info … everything in one place, in short videos and easy diagrams. I'm really excited about it — and it's just the first of many.'
Along with being the proud mama of her son Dimitri, she's also stepmama to three kids named Cash, 16, Lola, 15, and Lenny, who's somewhere in the teen/ tween age range as well!
Cash, she says, is 'living his best life. He's got a job, a girlfriend — he comes and goes like most 17-year-olds.' (She added, 'It's wild. When I met him, he was like 9 or 10 — now he's taller than my husband!')
While Cash is 'Mister Independent,' he's still always around his blended family, including his little brother Dimitri — and the sibling bond is strong. 'My stepdaughters are obsessed with Dimitri. And he's obsessed with them. On the days we don't have them, he's like, 'Where's my sissy?' It's the cutest thing. I'm so grateful for those girls.'
But while her blended family functions like a well-oiled machine, Van Dale is quick to say their family dynamic didn't happen overnight. 'It takes time,' she explained. 'You have to figure out where you fit. … For me, what worked was to just let them know that they have their mom. I'm not trying to be their mom, and I'm not trying to replace anybody. I just wanted to find my role in their lives, and it took some time to figure that out. I'm just so grateful for where we're at, how far we've come as a family, and I love being a stepmom. It's so much fun. But it's a lot of work.'
And with three teens and a toddler, things can get chaotic.
'My husband feels guilty because it's like when [the older kids] are here, he wants to be as present with them as he can. But then it's like, 'Oh, is that taking away from Dimitri?' I try to step up so he can have quality time with them,' she said. 'It's something we struggle with weekly.' Another struggle? Finding something both the 17-year-old and the 18-month-old both enjoy. 'Sometimes we're like, 'This weekend, we're gonna do something that we know the older kids are gonna like.' And then the following weekend, the older kids are gonna have to suck it up and come to the playground with us for [Dimitri].'
Still, the balance is worth striving for. 'Dimitri naps during the day and goes to bed at 7, so by the time he goes down, it's our time to really be present with the older kids and do things that they like to do and be around them more,' Van Dale says. 'So I'm grateful that we have that uninterrupted time. And then my husband and I will switch off sometimes.'
As the kids grow up, Van Dale admits it's emotional. 'You blink, and they're grown. It's scary and sad — but also so beautiful. We try to be as present as possible. Babies are only small for so long … we're not gonna have them around much longer.'
Parenting — especially stepparenting — is hard, she emphasizes. And it's okay to say that. It's okay to be stressed, to be overwhelmed, and to have thoughts that may make you shudder a bit.
'There are so many times I've felt like I'm not doing anything right, or I'm failing at this,' she said. 'And you can't say things like, 'What if I wasn't in this role?' because you'd feel like a terrible person.' But those thoughts happen, she admits — and feeling overwhelmed or unsure doesn't make you a bad step-parent. It makes you human: If you care enough to worry, it means you're doing something right.
She added, 'Nobody talks about it. It's almost like … you make these sacrifices, and they kind of go unnoticed because you're not the mom. You're not the dad. You're just the step-parent. But I am grateful to be a part of their journey.'
She's also a big believer in therapy — for herself, for couples, and for navigating blended family life.
When reflecting on the 'well-oiled machine' that is blended family life, Van Dale admits that it took time (and therapy!) to get there. 'We had to really oil it and get to where we're at. I think any new parents, or anytime you add a new baby or a new child into the mix, it's challenging —no matter how solid your foundation is. We have a very solid foundation, but it's always gonna get rocky there. Because it's new, and there's a new routine involved, and there's so much unknown.'
And no — it doesn't mean there's something wrong.
'It just really helped, and it doesn't mean you have to have an issue in your relationship or you have a bad marriage,' she said. 'I'm just a firm believer in therapy in general, never mind as a couple. If you wanna be stronger, you go to the gym and you work out. It's like working out as a couple for your relationship. And there's nothing wrong with it. It's made us so much stronger, so much closer, and it's only helped us.'
Van Dale may have spent over a decade as Carmella, but now she's discovering who she really is.
'It's been maybe three months since I'm no longer with WWE and no longer Carmella — and I was Carmella for 12 years,' she mused. 'And being in the WWE isn't just a job. It kind of it takes over your whole life. Who I am outside of that [is] something I'm trying to figure out and work on,' she said. 'Obviously, I wanna be the best mom, the best stepmom, the best wife, the best daughter that I can be, but what is my legacy? Who knows? I guess we'll see what the future holds.'
And we, for one, can't wait to see more of what Van Dale has in of SheKnows
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