Brie Bella is raising her daughter as a vegetarian.
The 34-year-old professional wrestler gave birth to her daughter Birdie Joe Danielson – whom she has with her husband and fellow wrestler Daniel Bryan – 11 months ago, and has revealed that whilst she is feeding her a vegetarian diet, she won’t stop the tot from eating meat if she requests it.
She said: "As of right now, I am [feeding Birdie a vegetarian diet]. The day that Birdie asks me to try meat, I won’t deny it to her."
The ‘Total Bellas’ star doesn’t want to "push" her beliefs onto her daughter, and will let her make her own decisions when she gets older.
She added: "I’ll always let her know the things I believe in and why, but I’ll never push them on her. I was blessed to be raised in a family where they didn’t push a lot of stuff on me.
"I was able to find who I am today and I want Birdie to have that. I’ll educate her on why I live the lifestyle I do, but if she asks for it one day I won’t make her feel bad about it and I’ll let her try it for sure."
But Brie has faced criticism for her decision to raise Birdie on a vegetarian diet, as people are reportedly concerned she is "starving" her daughter.
Brie said: "You almost can’t tell people you’re a vegetarian because they feel like you’re starving your baby. I birthed a nine-pound healthy baby. I ate so many vegetables, which is maybe why Birdie loves them too. I just think people have a misconception about what it means to be a healthy vegetarian."
The wrestling star – who is the twin sister of fellow wrestler Nikki Bella – also revealed that motherhood changed her opinion on vaccinations, as she felt getting her daughter immunised against life-threatening diseases outweighed the possible injury incurred by the needle.
Speaking to People magazine, she said: "I was someone in the beginning who doubted vaccinations. But I started educating myself and I started realising how easy it is for kids to get different diseases and infections that they can’t fight off.
"As a mother, that really opened up my eyes. The thing people are most scared about are vaccine injuries. I sat there and thought, ‘My daughter can catch something and I’m either dealing with death or a vaccine injury. I’ll take vaccine injury over death.’"
Brie Bella raising daughter as a vegetarian
