Janel Grant says she is ‘struggling’ but ‘profound & meaningful exchanges have helped me feel less alone’
For the first time since news that her lawsuit against Vince McMahon & WWE was officially going to private arbitration, Janel Grant has gone public.
Grant posted on her Instagram account Wednesday and without addressing the case specifically, she said she wanted to be honest and that she has “been struggling.”
“It happened to be a perfect storm of everything and all at once. Thank you for checking in with me and for your patience,” she wrote, adding that it’s “completely ok” for people to continue reaching out and sending messages to her.
She continued that she was grateful for those messages and support, comparing her life to an Anderson Cooper podcast about grief, noting, “These profound and meaningful exchanges have helped me feel less alone.”
“I believe that making a difference in the world begins with how we show up in it. I have been outside 5 times this year. But here I am. And I’m still showing up to be part of the solution,” she wrote.
In January 2024, Grant sued McMahon, WWE and John Laurinaitis for sexual assault, trafficking and sex abuse — the alleged details of which came out in the two+ years afterward and also included allegations against other WWE executives regarding their knowledge of what was going on in addition to Brock Lesnar for his alleged involvement. Laurinaitis was later dropped from the lawsuit.
After the lawsuit was filed, McMahon stepped down from his position as TKO executive chairman and hasn’t appeared on WWE programming since. McMahon’s team had pushed for arbitration based on a clause in an NDA Grant signed which her team had said was under duress.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.