Janel Grant has spent years publicly battling Vince McMahon, but she just dropped an answer that probably wasn’t on many people’s bingo cards — forgiveness. During a wide-ranging conversation with POST Wrestling, the former WWE employee was directly asked what she feels toward McMahon today after accusing him of sexual abuse, coercion and sex trafficking in her lawsuit.
Grant didn’t go with anger, hatred or revenge. Instead, she said the word that best describes where she is mentally now is “forgiveness,” while even admitting that she still feels empathy toward McMahon despite everything she has accused him of doing.
“Forgiveness. I don’t know how else to describe it, other than there’s something that does not take up space in my brain. 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.”
That answer carries some serious weight considering where things stand between the two. Grant filed her federal lawsuit against McMahon and WWE in January 2024, accusing the former WWE chairman of sexual assault, trafficking and years of abuse. McMahon has denied Grant’s accusations and characterized their relationship as consensual. Ringside News has laid out the entire saga in its full Janel Grant-Vince McMahon timeline, including the allegations, WWE fallout, NDA battle and eventual move away from public court.
Grant made it clear that she isn’t sitting around mentally consumed by McMahon himself. What appears to occupy far more space in her head is how the entire scandal came to light in the first place, beginning with anonymous emails sent to WWE’s board and eventually leading to The Wall Street Journal exposing McMahon’s NDA scandal in 2022.
“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.”
Grant has denied being involved in sending those anonymous emails. They ultimately helped trigger WWE’s internal investigation into McMahon, which exposed multiple undisclosed agreements and became one piece of a scandal that eventually pushed McMahon out of WWE.
The legal battle also looks very different today than it did when Grant first filed her lawsuit. The federal case was officially closed in July 2026 after Grant, McMahon and WWE agreed to dismiss the public action and continue pursuing their claims and defenses through private arbitration.
Grant has also been increasingly vocal outside the courtroom. She recently said the NDA connected to McMahon “nearly took my life” while describing the physical, emotional and financial damage she says she endured during the years surrounding the scandal.
That makes her newest comments even harder to ignore. Grant isn’t saying everything is suddenly okay, and she certainly isn’t backing away from her allegations, but after years of legal warfare and public scrutiny, she says Vince McMahon himself no longer occupies the same space in her mind.
What do you make of Janel Grant saying she feels forgiveness and even empathy toward Vince McMahon after everything she has accused him of doing? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
