![\"Wrestling](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/720\/2017\/11\/teddiase1.jpg\")
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Even with a faith background and a family at home, DiBiase\u2019s world nearly crumbled when his unfaithful behavior touched his home. In the documentary, The Price of Fame<\/em>, premiering Nov. 7 as a Fathom Event presentation, DiBiase\u2019s life is profiled through those who knew him best, including his family as well as wrestling colleagues Mick Foley, George \u201cThe Animal\u201d Steele, \u201cRowdy\u201d Roddy Piper, and Jim Duggan. In this interview with Reel Faith\u2019s <\/em>DeWayne Hamby, the Hall of Famer recounts the life-changing forgiveness he experienced from God, his wife Melanie, and his three sons that propelled him into full-time ministry. He is also asked how exactly one escapes from the dreaded \u201cfigure four\u201d leglock.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The movie is very personal, focusing on your infidelity as well as your wife\u2019s forgiveness of it. The average person might be hesitant to have such a personal look at their life onscreen. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I had a very strong faith when I was young, which carried me through my stepfather\u2019s death and my mother\u2019s subsequent alcoholism. When I got to college, 18 years old, basically I felt that God had given me the desires of my heart. I got the scholarship to go play football, but then from 18 to 38, basically, my male ego took over. It was all about Ted, pretty much. When my career took off in the WWF, which is the WWE today, everything just was in the fast lane. I caved in to so many things that everybody else was caving into.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s an old rock n roll song \u201cDrugs, Sex and Rock N Roll.\u201d We literally became like rock stars. We were traveling 21 days straight, different town every day. I just got caught up in it. There was no question of the love I had for my wife and my children. But it was filling a void. I say this all the time, \u201cGod will give you enough rope to hang yourself.\u201d At the very pinnacle of my success, I called home the day after Wrestlemania, which was in Indianapolis, and my wife confronts me with adultery. That was my real \u201cCome back to Jesus\u201d moment. In the very moment, it was the realization that I had put at risk the most valuable things in my life, the love and devotion of a committed wife as well as the future and stability and the peace of mind of my children. It was the turnaround moment for me. When I came clean about the drinking and the drugs and all that stuff, it was hard.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The amazing thing about our amazing God is His amazing grace. The really remarkable to me quite honestly is that my wife did forgive me. And she was very grounded. She says that God tells us forgive as you\u2019ve been forgiven and there aren\u2019t any parameters on that. Now she knew, she also she said that to me. I was very really overwhelmed by it. She said, \u201cI\u2019m not going to make you a promise I can\u2019t keep, because I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m strong enough but I\u2019m going to try and do this because I serve a God of restoration, not divorce.\u201d In many ways, the fact that she was willing to forgive me and give me that second chance, it was like the booster shot. I had already laid myself bare before God.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Why am I willing to share this story? It\u2019s because God genuinely humbled me. My life is an open book. There are some things very hard for me. Whether you\u2019re a person of faith or not, my hope is that the story will show people that all the things that they chase so hard, whether it\u2019s fame or just a big job and a lot of money and having a fancy car and big house, it may make you happy for a little while, but it will never satisfy you and it will never give you peace. I have a pastor friend who\u2019s been my closest friend for 36 years, Hal Santos. In my darkest hour, I went to him, \u201cWhat do I do?\u2019 He said, \u2018Ted, Jesus said the truth will set you free. He never said it would be painless or easy, but it will set you free.\u201d The other thing he said, \u201cGod will forgive you and God will restore you, but there\u2019s always consequences and in your case, the consequences may be that you lose everything, because your wife has the right to leave you. But even if the worst happens, if you\u2019ll cling to the cross and trust Jesus through the storm, you\u2019re going to come out of the storm with a peace in your life that the Bible describes as passing all understanding.\u201d I walk in that peace today. I have a lot of people ask me, \u201cAre you really a multi-million dollar man?\u201d Nope. But what do I have today? I have the love and respect of my wife and I have the love and respect of my children. I have the extreme pleasure and privilege of watching my grandchildren grow up. I think back to that moment in time, \u201cMan, had I made any other choice, I don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be today or even if I\u2019d be here.\u201d But God is good.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n One of the things that stood out to me is how much your children respect and treasure you and it\u2019s very admirable of how your wife shielded her pain from them in order to keep that respect. That is maturity on a level most people don\u2019t have any clue about. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In her words to me, she said, \u2018\u201dIn spite of what you\u2019ve done to me, you\u2019re a great dad and your children hold you on that pedestal. I don\u2019t want to destroy that.\u201d She said, \u201cUntil they\u2019re old enough to understand, they don\u2019t know it.\u201d They knew, but they didn\u2019t start knowing until they were old enough to be in church and be sitting in there hearing me share the story. And my attitude toward that was, \u201cOkay, they\u2019re hearing the story now, so they know. If they have any questions, I\u2019m sure the time will come when they come to me with them.\u201d Of course, the movie tells that that moment happened. I can understand that angst, like they see how happy we are together that we don\u2019t fight and we\u2019re truly in love and yet it\u2019s like, \u201cDad, how could you do that?\u201d It\u2019s hard to explain. It\u2019s like being two different people.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n One of the other things I noticed is how you shared your story and you making a stand and how it affected others, such as your colleague George \u201cThe Animal\u201d Steele. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s something crazy about that. Pete, who did all this, that\u2019s where this all started. It was a God thing. He came to interview me as a favor to a friend and it was what we in our business call a \u201cshoot interview,\u201d in other words, it\u2019s real, it\u2019s not wrestling storylines, it\u2019s real life. When you start talking about real life to me, I\u2019m going to start telling you about what God did in it. In Pete\u2019s own words, \u201cAt the time, I was the backslidden son of a minister. Ted\u2019s story got all over me.\u201d He decided he wanted to do this. When we started this project three years, I never envisioned this. I never envisioned a Fathom Event in almost 700 theaters across the country. It is amazing. It\u2019s gotta\u2019 be a God thing.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got a really important question for you. If someone puts you in a \u201cfigure four\u201d leg lock, how do you get out of it or do you just cry for mercy? My brother would put me in them when I was kid.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n (laughs) With us, the figure four leglock, it\u2019s a move that looks like it is excruciating and there is a way to do that and make it hurt\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Yeah, and that\u2019s what he did. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t really hurt in pro wrestling. If you can roll over, it\u2019s supposed to reverse it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It has to be gratifying that you provided entertainment that\u2019s been popular across the board, all ages that enjoyed watching you guys. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I talk about how hard the life was. The wrestling was great. I loved what I did. Loved entertaining people. Sometimes I was the good guy, sometimes I was a bad guy. I get a lot of fans that come and I\u2019ll do occasionally autograph signings, Comic-Con appearance-type things, and they\u2019ll say, \u201cPlease don\u2019t be offended, Mr. DiBiase, but when I was a kid, I just hated your guts.\u201d I laugh and I go, \u201cThank you. That means I did my job well.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to more of DeWayne\u2019s conversation with Ted DiBiase on The DeWayne Hamby Podcast link below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![\"Wrestling](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/720\/2017\/11\/teddibiase2.jpg\")