Janel Grant broke her public silence this week with an emotional appearance addressing the impact of non-disclosure agreements and their role in workplace misconduct cases.
Grant appeared Thursday at a Capitol news briefing hosted by the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, where she spoke openly about the NDA tied to her lawsuit against WWE and Vince McMahon, as well as the fallout stemming from the June 2022 Wall Street Journal article that publicly identified her in its report on allegations against McMahon.
“On June 15th of 2022, my life was rewritten into someone else’s storyline. And I was globally outed in the Wall Street Journal,” Grant said during her speech.
She described the severe mental health toll the situation took on her, including experiencing thoughts of self-harm.
“That is the life-wrecking and the mental health impact of this particular NDA.”
Grant also reflected on the isolation she felt in the aftermath of the report, while expressing gratitude toward those who supported her during that time.
“The people and organizations that have supported me when I was the loneliest person on planet Earth, when my life got decimated in the Wall Street Journal, with them, I would not be here,” she continued.
During the briefing, Grant emphasized what she believes are the broader dangers of NDAs in workplace environments, arguing that they can silence employees and allow patterns of misconduct to continue unchecked.
“Workplace safety depends on transparency because when employees cannot speak, patterns can’t be seen. When patterns can’t be seen, they can’t be stopped. When they can’t be stopped, harm spreads.”
“When an NDA is used to conceal dangerous behavior, it simply relocates the harm to the next employee, the next office, the next victim.”
Grant further claimed that after the first Wall Street Journal report was published, WWE asked her to issue a joint statement describing her relationship with McMahon as consensual. She said she declined, though a WWE spokesperson later characterized it as consensual in a follow-up Wall Street Journal article the next month.
“So someone, a group maybe, behind my back, without my knowledge, without my input, made that decision for me, it’s consensual, we say so.”
She stated that while she was initially told she could participate in WWE’s internal investigation, it ultimately concluded without her being interviewed. Grant also revealed she received whistleblower status from the SEC amid an ongoing federal criminal investigation into the allegations.
“In March of 2023, I got two things from the SEC. I got a subpoena, and I got whistleblower status. A couple days after that, Vince McMahon and Ari Emanuel suddenly appeared on CNBC to announce a deal of Endeavor and WWE, so color me the most surprised person on planet Earth.”
Grant also referenced a WWE storyline on Raw that she said bore parallels to her own situation, though she did not specify which angle she was referring to.
“And in the summer of 2024, reporters and viewers noticed there were parallels between the storyline that unfolded for several months on television and my situation.”
At another point in her remarks, Grant acknowledged the weight of filing her civil lawsuit and the personal cost attached to doing so.
“I knew what I would be about to throw my life into, but I had been dragged in by this NDA into a federal investigation, the SEC, all the consequences, all the things that have happened that have made my life so small and isolated, I didn’t start that. It’s like it found me.”
Near the close of her speech, she directed a message to TKO leadership.
“To the board of TKO, if you didn’t know this part of your origin story, now you know. I hope you will have conversations with us. I will hope you have conversations amongst yourselves, and I hope that you don’t rely on old instincts with new insight.”
“All of you have some say in how my life turns out from here, including how quickly I may be able to move on and find help and healing.”
(H/T to Ian Carey and F4WOnline.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
