Janel Grant Describes The Aftermath Of Vince McMahon Allegations Becoming Public

Janel Grant has opened up on the aftermath of her allegations against Vince McMahon coming to light. 

Grant alleged that during her time working under McMahon she was sexually abused and exploited by the former WWE Chairman, filing a civil lawsuit in January 2024 to that effect. But the first indication that something was amiss came in 2022 as McMahon was investigated for alleged sexual misconduct and related NDA payments. 

Grant was not known to the public at this time, but she was soon contacted by the Wall Street Journal regarding an imminent story they were publishing about her experience. 

"I'm a private person," she told POST Wrestling's John Pollock. "To have everything ripped out from underneath you, and just the ground swallowed me, like my ones gave out. I collapsed to the ground when I got the call that there was going to be, at any moment... a story in the Wall Street Journal."

Grant said that she was told through her attorney at the time that McMahon felt bad about the situation, and felt like the loneliest person on the planet. 

"I asked the attorney a question that I don't know I ever got an answer [to]," she continued. "I said, 'Is he okay?' Because I thought, if I instantly felt like I might want to not be here anymore, if this was something that maybe my light goes out in life, why wouldn't he feel the same way, if somethings about to be outed?" 

Grant was asked by Pollock about the empathy towards her alleged abuser, to which she responded, "It's actually, to be in my body and see the world through my eyes, it's pretty easy. He's the only person who can tell me if I'm going to be okay. And what's going, like, what just happened? How did this happen? He's the only person who would know that. That's how I felt."

Grant previously opened up about the story emerging while she was getting to grips with a new job, and the resulting suicidal ideation. 

She went further as to why that was the case in the interview, explaining that her life "was instantly not mine anymore. There was a narrative that rewrote my life, like my life is not mine. So what is life?"

She said that it was her former fiance who stopped her from hurting herself. "It was like someone, like zapping me almost, like pushing me, like go, get out, go, go, like move, just like snapping my brain," she explained. "And it was only because of that, that I somehow, with no memory of how, put on a dress and went downstairs for this meeting."

Grant said she attended the meeting but people could tell something was wrong, even though she had yet to be formally named. She believed that many could deduce it was her being referred to.

"Everyone's looking," she said. "One person during the meeting slipped me some paper: 'Are you okay?' Another [person said], 'Call me.' Another one texted me the Wall Street Journal article. They knew."

Grant's lawsuit stated that she suffers from anxiety and depression, and is unable to leave home for weeks at a time due to PTSD. As a result, it's said that she lost the new job in January 2023. The lawsuit was moved to private arbitration in June.