Janel Grant made a rare public appearance on Thursday, February 19, 2026, speaking at a Capitol news briefing in Hartford, Connecticut. The event was hosted by the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence and focused on the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in workplace misconduct cases and their impact on survivors.
During her remarks, Grant addressed the NDA at the center of her ongoing civil lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE, as well as the fallout stemming from a June 2022 report by The Wall Street Journal that publicly identified her in connection with 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. That is the life-wrecking and the mental health impact of this particular NDA,” Grant said in her speech.
Grant described the profound emotional toll the situation took on her, including thoughts of self-harm. She credited advocacy organizations like the Alliance for helping her through what she characterized as one of the most isolating periods of her life. She also spoke broadly about how NDAs can silence victims and allow harmful workplace patterns 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,” she added.
Grant further revealed that after the initial Wall Street Journal report was published, WWE allegedly asked her to participate in a joint public statement describing the relationship as consensual. She declined. However, she noted that a company spokesperson later characterized the relationship as consensual in a subsequent article.
She also confirmed that she was granted whistleblower status by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2023 — shortly before the announcement of the Endeavor–WWE merger.
“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 noted.
Grant additionally referenced a WWE storyline on Raw that she claimed mirrored aspects of her situation for months, though she did not identify the specific angle.
In closing, she directed remarks toward the board of TKO Group Holdings, urging leadership to examine the company’s origins and engage in meaningful dialogue.
“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,” Grant stated.
Grant’s civil lawsuit, which alleges sexual assault and trafficking by McMahon, is currently scheduled for arbitration in June 2026. John Laurinaitis was dismissed from the suit in May 2025 after reportedly reaching a confidential settlement and agreeing to provide evidence. McMahon resigned from TKO in early 2024 following the initial filing of the allegations.
PWMania.com will continue to provide updates as developments in the case unfold.
