Janel Grant says she feels “forgiveness” and even empathy toward Vince McMahon as she continues to process the events of the past several years.
Grant spoke at length with Brandon Thurston and John Pollock of POST Wrestling for a new interview published on Tuesday. Grant filed a lawsuit against McMahon, WWE and John Laurinaitis in January 2024, accusing McMahon of sexual assault and sex trafficking. McMahon has denied the allegations. Laurinaitis was later dropped as a defendant, while Grant, McMahon and WWE agreed earlier this year to move their dispute into private arbitration.
During the interview, Grant reflected on her reaction when the Wall Street Journal first reported allegations of misconduct and hush-money payments involving McMahon in 2022. Grant recalled that one of her first concerns at the time was McMahon’s well-being.
“I asked the attorney a question that I don’t know I ever got an answer [to]. 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 something’s about to be outed,” Grant said.
Grant explained that, at the time, she viewed McMahon as the only person capable of helping her understand what was happening.
“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 on, like, what just happened? How did this happen? He’s the only person who would know that. That’s how I felt.”
When asked how she feels toward McMahon today, Grant responded with one word: “Forgiveness.”
“I don’t know how else to describe it, other than there’s something that does not take up space in my brain,” Grant said. “I feel even empathy, because in a weird way, and this is extreme polar opposites, the thing that might… the series of events that caused The Journal story to happen—whatever it was—it equally impacted him.”
Grant added that there were too many people and decisions involved for her to fully process everything that happened.
“There are so many people involved in [the] decision-making that I can’t sit still and process.”
Instead, Grant said she finds herself thinking more about the chain of events that ultimately led to the allegations becoming public.
“Instead, what occupies my brain is whatever series of events and decision-makers caused the anonymous emails to happen or The Wall Street Journal story to happen, and the events that have played out since, however they have played out. That is what occupies my brain.”
McMahon resigned from his positions with TKO and WWE in January 2024 following the filing of Grant’s lawsuit. The civil case was voluntarily dismissed earlier this year after Grant, McMahon and WWE reached an agreement to pursue their claims and defenses through private arbitration.
- MORE JANEL GRANT NEWS: Janel Grant Lawsuit And Arbitration Tracker
