Robin Christensen Roussimoff, the daughter of the late Andre the Giant, spoke at New York City Comic-Con promoting the new graphic novel based on the WWE Hall of Famer’s life. Here are some highlights (via Reddit):
* Roussimoff sayd her relationship with WWE today is purely professional and they simply pay her royalties without making any other sort of contact. She said, “They don’t really like me. I don’t know why” and said that Vince McMahon Sr. “was a better guy than his son is”
* She added that Andre would have had problems making it in WWE today because of the amount of focus on promos. She said that she thinks the company is becoming too soap opera-esque and that today’s wrestlers aren’t that good outside of high-flyers. She added that she would like to see the spirit of the Attitude Era return, particularly TLC matches.
* She said that her first memory of Andre was seeing him come to the doctor’s office for a blood test to confirm that he was her father. The last time that she saw him was at a court hearing over child support payments.
* She talked about Andre’s filming The Princess Bride, saying that he loved it and that “It was probably the calmest point of his life.” She said the cast treated him like a normal guy and that he memorized a taped recording of his lines for the film. She didn’t know Andre was in the movie when her mother took her to see it for the first time.
* According to her, Andre had a bad side if he didn’t like you, and wrestlers feared it. Randy Savage got on Andre’s bad side when he was caught with steroids, and never got off of it.
* Andre had “no tolerance” for steroids and talked about his drinking. She confirmed the legend that he drank close to 150 beers, saying he would stack cans atop each other when he drank. Drinking became his self-medication; “He learned how to function without being in a wheel chair.” She added that he took a horse tranquilizer before a surgery.
* She said that her mother allowed no wrestling in the house and wanted her to form her own opinion about Andre. She said her favorite wrestler was The Ultimate Warrior but doesn’t know how Andre viewed him, as he never talked about wrestling. However, she says that he loved Hulk Hogan and were legitimately friends.
* Roussimoff also talked about the previously-published graphic novel, which is unauthorized and which she is unhappy about. She’s also extremely unhappy about Shepard Fairey, who uses Andre’s image in his “OBEY” and “Andre the Giant has a posse” works. She is open to anyone that wants to use Andre’s image as long as they approach her about it.
* She noted that people find out she’s Andre’s daughter, people either back away or try to use her. She doesn’t date because of her dad’s lasting fame.
