Brie Bella Says Her Husband Proves 'You Can Truly Accomplish Anything'

During Daniel Bryan's three year retirement, there was nobody more encouraging behind the scenes than his wife Brie.

When everyone had written off a possible return to the ring for the former WWE champion, Brie Bella continued to support Bryan behind the scenes as he chased his dreams of once again performing in the ring. Bryan's backstage struggles to get cleared were portrayed on Total Bellas and Total Divas, but the extent to which Brie supported her husband didn't fully come through during those broadcasts.

When Bryan was eventually cleared to return to the ring, he spoke in the ring on SmackDown about his wife's unwavering support, choking up in the process. It was one of those most heartfelt and real segments on a WWE program in years.

Brie sat down with Sports Illustrated this week to talk about Bryan's return to action, and she shared some secrets about what life was like with Bryan the night before he was force to retire and the night before he returned to the ring at WrestleMania 34.

"As a wife, the night in Seattle [Bryan's retirement], I just couldn't believe my husband had to tell people he could no longer do what he loved to do," Brie said. "He was in so much pain and then to go out and tell everyone, he really didn't want to do it. He was very emotional, especially in a city that is his hometown. I would have done anything that night to have taken his pain and put it all on me. It killed me. We were up all night, it was really hard.

Brie continued, contrasting that night in Seattle with New Orleans this year at WrestleMania.

"The night before WrestleMania, it was actually really cute, he couldn't sleep because he was so excited," she said. "I told him, 'Think of everything you've done to get here.' So to go from one night where we couldn't sleep because we were both so sad to another night where we couldn't sleep because we were so excited, that was so crazy. I'm so proud of him. He's healthy, he deserves to be in that ring. It shows that with passion and dedication, you can truly accomplish anything."