A woman who alleges she was sexually abused for years by Vince McMahon wrote a gushing love letter to the former WWE CEO in which she declared the duo was “in love with a capital L” — and she now claims that McMahon coerced her to do it, The Post has learned.
Janel Grant — whose bombshell lawsuit landed a day before the wrestling icon abruptly stepped down as executive chairman of WWE-parent TKO Group Holdings — penned a lengthy email to McMahon dated Dec. 24, 2021 in which she called him “my best friend, my love and my everything.”
“After almost 3 years together, it’ like my life isn’t even real to me unless you’re there and in it and I’m sharing it all with you,” Grant, 43, wrote in the Christmas Eve letter to 78-year-old McMahon obtained by The Post.
The lovestruck letter stands in contrast to the allegations in her explosive lawsuit filed in Connecticut federal court in January, which claimed that McMahon allegedly defecated on Grant’s head during a threesome in May 2020 — some 18 months before she wrote the alleged love letter.
But Grant’s attorney, Ann Callis, told The Post that McMahon actually instructed Grant to write the note.
“Frankly it’s pretty disgusting that Vince’s weeks-late attempt to defend his horrendous behavior — behavior he claims to this day never happened — is to try to showcase letters that Vince himself coerced her to write,” Callis said.
“His psychological torture of her continues — as is typical of abusive predators who respond to women speaking out with increased threats. While Janel isn’t a stranger to his intimidation tactics, this is a new low even for him.”
Asked about the coercion allegations, McMahon’s attorney, Jessica Taub Rosenberg of law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, told The Post that “this is revisionist history. No one coerced Ms. Grant to write that letter. She wrote it of her own accord. The fact that the letter shows it was the 24th draft speaks volumes.”
““Nowhere in her voluminous complaint, that is replete with fabrications, does she mention being coerced into such behavior. The language of the letter is consistent with other communications she made to Mr. McMahon over the course of their consensual relationship,” Rosenberg added.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Grant revealed that on Dec. 21, three days before sending the letter, Grant texted McMahon that she had surgery on her pointer finger, saying “I think I’m tapping out today.”
In the alleged text exchange obtained by The Post, which was not included in Grant’s lawsuit but alleged as genuine by a spokesperson for Grant, McMahon responded, “Damn it. Sorry baby,” following it with two heart emojis.
“How will I write your letter?” Grant replied in the text thread. “I can type and read it…or try to write in a couple days,” Grant added. “I’m so sorry if I mess this up, I want you to have a nice letter :(“
Grant’s rep, who asked to remain unnamed, also said that Grant had written love letters at McMahon’s request so many times that she resorted to padding them with existing material from pop culture, including a GQ interview with Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly published two months before Grant’s letter.
In the GQ piece, for example, author Molly Lambert said of the celebs’ relationship: “The carnal component is clearly off the charts, but they can also be sweet and funny” — language that was lifted nearly word-for-word in Grant’s letter.
“Fox and MGK are in Love, with a capital L,” the story also states — yet another phrase lifted by Grant.
In another passage, Grant wrote, “I feel understood, accepted, loved and appreciated for who I am at my core. You see my heart. You see my soul. There are few people who know the secret of making a heaven here on earth. You are one of those rare people.”
Grant’s spokesperson said the sugary-sweet lines were ripped verbatim from the 1947 film “The Bishop’s Wife.”
In her suit, Grant, a former WWE employee who worked at the company’s Stamford, Conn., headquarters between June 2019 and March 2022, also claimed that McMahon trafficked her to other WWE executives and wrestlers and caused physical injuries “from forceful use of sex toys” that were named after male WWE stars.
McMahon — who is under federal investigation by New York prosecutors over the sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations — has denied Grant’s accusations, claiming that their relationship was a consensual affair.
“Ms. Grant’s claims are false, defamatory and entirely without merit,” McMahon’s attorney, Taub, also told The Post on Thursday. “We intend to vigorously defend Mr. McMahon and are confident that he will be vindicated.”
Grant’s rambling, 2,200-word email was taken from Grant’s laptop as part of an investigation on behalf of WWE’s board by white-shoe law firm Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, and is expected to appear in court filings as the case progresses, according to sources close to the situation.
According to Grant’s suit, McMahon and fellow defendant John Laurinaitis — WWE’s former head of talent relations — sexually abused Grant at WWE’s headquarters for months in 2021.
That included allegedly taking turns restraining Grant and having sex with her while telling her, “Take it, b—h,” according to court documents.
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Also in 2021, Grant claimed she was forced to visit Laurinaitis — the stepfather of former WWE stars Nikki and Brie Garcia, the “Bella Twins” — in hotel rooms for sex before workdays at McMahon’s command after she was transferred the talent relations department, where Laurinaitis served as Grant’s boss.
Laurinaitis — who has also since claimed he is also a victim of McMahon’s actions in a stunning turn against the ex-WWE honcho — was fired from WWE in 2022 in the wake of a hush money scandal related to a $1.5 million nondisclosure agreement purportedly made to an employee who accused him of misconduct in 2012.
At that time, McMahon was also being probed for his own roughly $3 million hush money payment and NDA with former staffers. WWE’s eight independent directors hired law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to conduct the investigation, during which they discovered Grant’s gushing letter to McMahon obtained by The Post.
“Whether it’s your assistants, a chef, Brad, Nick, Johnny or whoever sees us together, I think it’s undeniable to them — or anyone who sees us — that we are in love with a capital L.”
In addition to Laurinaitis, sources said Grant appeared to be referring to WWE president Nick Khan and COO Brad Blum — identified in court documents as Corporate Officers No. 1 and 2 — as those who allegedly witnessed Grant and McMahon “act so sweetly together.”
Laurinaitis’ attorney, Edward Brennan, declined to comment on the letter, but noted that the 61-year-old ex-pro wrestler, known in the ring as Johnny Ace, “denies all of the allegations made against him in the complaint and asserts that he is a victim in this matter, not a protagonist.”
In the December 2021 letter, Grant said the pair “don’t get to spend as much time together as we’d like to.” Grant went on to detail her “true love” with McMahon: “I am the best and most authentic version of myself in your presence,” she wrote.
Grant, 43, also detailed how she admired McMahon, 78, for being the “most handsome, radiant, charismatic person in any room” as well as his “eyes with the beautiful kaleidoscope of colors and your big beautiful vulnerable heart.”
Grant concluded the love letter with: “You, Vince McMahon, are THE ONE. For the yesterdays and todays and the tomorrows I can hardly wait for, thank you my sweet beast. My heart is yours — always and forever.”
McMahon, meanwhile, is reportedly still married to Linda McMahon, his wife of nearly six decades — though he told Grant that their marriage was “an arrangement on paper for business purposes,” per the suit.
Representatives for WWE did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
