Janel Grant forgives former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, shifts attention to source of leak
Janel Grant told POST Wrestling she feels "forgiveness" toward former WWE chief Vince McMahon in an interview published on September 22 and said her attention has moved to the sequence of events and decision‑makers that produced the anonymous emails and The Wall Street Journal story.
Grant described the interview with Brandon Thurston and John Pollock as a wide‑ranging conversation and one of her most extensive public discussions about her life before, during and after her relationship with McMahon. Her federal lawsuit against McMahon and WWE alleged sexual abuse and sex trafficking, claims McMahon has denied. The case was moved from federal court into private arbitration earlier this year in July, and anonymous emails sent to WWE board members in 2022 raised concerns that led to a Wall Street Journal investigation.
Asked what she currently feels toward McMahon, Grant answered in a single 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.
She said McMahon no longer occupies the same space in her thoughts and added she felt compassion as well, saying, "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… There are so many people involved in [the] decision-making that I can’t sit still and process."
On where her focus lies now, Grant said, "Instead," she said, "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."
Grant’s relationship with McMahon began in 2019 after she was introduced to him while seeking employment, and her lawsuit detailed allegations about that relationship and her time working for WWE. McMahon has characterized their relationship as consensual and denied Grant’s allegations; the Wall Street Journal’s reporting brought the board’s investigation into wider public view.
Grant has spoken about the broader impact of the events on her life and has become involved in advocacy surrounding workplace misconduct and nondisclosure agreements. For now, she said she is focused on what happened, how the events changed her life and what can be done differently in the future; her comments about forgiveness do not alter the allegations or the ongoing legal history between the parties.