Janelle Grant spoke about the consequences of revealing her accusations against Vince McMahon.
Grant claimed she was sexually assaulted and exploited by the former WWE president while working under McMahon, filing a civil lawsuit in January 2024. But the first indication that something was amiss came in 2022, when McMahon was investigated for alleged sexual harassment and NDA payments.
Grant was not known to the public at this time, but was soon contacted by the Wall Street Journal about an upcoming story they were publishing about his experience.
“I am a private person,” he said POST Wrestling’s: John Pollock. “For everything to be torn out from under you, and the earth will swallow me like mine. I was floored when I got the call that there was going to be a… story in the Wall Street Journal any minute.”
Grant said he was told by his attorney at the time that McMahon felt bad about the situation and felt like the loneliest person on the planet.
“I asked the lawyer a question I don’t know I ever got an answer to,” he continued. “I said, ‘Is it okay?’ Because I thought, if I instantly felt like I might not want to be here anymore, if this is something that might be my light going out in life, why wouldn’t he feel the same way if something is going to come out?”
Asked by Grant Pollock about his empathy for his alleged abuser, he replied: “It’s actually being in my body and seeing 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 happened? How did this happen?
Janelle Grant opens up about suicidal thoughts
Grant previously opened about the story that unfolded as he started a new job and the resulting suicidal ideation.
He went further into why this was the case in the interview, explaining that his life “immediately wasn’t mine anymore. There was a story that rewrote my life as if my life wasn’t mine. So what is life?’
She said her ex-fiancé stopped her from harming herself. “It was like someone was beating me, pushing me, like go, get out, go, go, how to move, just like break my brain,” she explained. “And it’s only because of this that I somehow, without memory, put on the dress and went down for this meeting.”
Grant said he attended the meeting but people could tell something was wrong, although his name has yet to be officially released. He thought most people could conclude that it was about him.
“Everybody’s watching,” he said. “One person threw a paper at me during the meeting. “Are you okay?” Another (man said): “Call me.” Someone else texted me a Wall Street Journal article. They knew.”
Grant’s lawsuit said she suffers from anxiety and depression and is unable to leave the house for weeks at a time due to PTSD. As a result, he is said to have lost his new job in January 2023. The suit was moved to private arbitration in June.
