Scandals That Linda McMahon Has Been Involved In

This article includes discussions of violence and sexual assault.

In 2024, Donald Trump named Linda McMahon to head the Department of Education. The co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was just one of his many cabinet picks for his second term as president. Most Americans approved of them, as did Russia. But some of his choices, including McMahon, caused a lot of conversation about who's actually qualified for their job. Amid this conversation, lots of salacious stories about her life and career resurfaced.

She wasn't alone. Matt Gaetz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are two Trump cabinet picks who have been involved in scandals. Gaetz even ended up withdrawing his name from consideration amid allegations against him. McMahon can hold her own in this category, though. She has definitely had her share of drama over the years, from reportedly lying about her education to her involvement in a sexual abuse lawsuit. Let's take a look at some of her biggest scandals.

After Linda McMahon was nominated to head the Department of Education, a point of debate was whether or not the appointed should have experience working as a teacher. She does not, and she even once lied about having a teaching degree. McMahon apparently once planned to be a teacher, and she did get a teaching certificate while she was at East Carolina University majoring in French. A certificate is not the same as a degree, though, but that didn't stop McMahon from saying she had the latter in 2009 when she was applying to be on the Connecticut Board of Education.

McMahon ended up on the Connecticut board. However, she resigned in April 2010, just days before a Hartford Courant's article revealed that she claimed to have a degree, as well as what they felt to be additional falsehoods on her questionnaire. According to McMahon, she resigned because of limits placed on board members in regards to campaign contributions (she was at the time running for a seat in the U.S. Senate). She was given an honorary doctorate from East Carolina University in 2018 — in the humanities, not education.

Linda McMahon and Donald Trump most notably crossed paths in 2007 when he was the star of a WrestleMania event, an annual extravaganza held by WWE. In the middle of the ring, Trump shaved the head of Vince McMahon, Linda's husband and WWE co-founder. And one major scandal involving Linda has everything to do with her time at WWE. 

In October 2024, she and Vince were sued by five former WWE "ring boys" — teenagers who helped set up the wrestling ring, among other things — who were employed in the 1980s. The lawsuit alleged that the couple knew that Mel Phillips, a former WWE announcer who has since passed away, was sexually abusing them and continued to allow him access to young boys. Tom Cole was one of the first ring boys to talk about the abuse publicly in the early 1990s, and though there was an investigation around that time, no legal action was taken.

Tom has since passed away, but his brother, Lee, spoke about him, Linda, and the 2024 lawsuit on the "Wrestlenomics" podcast. "Linda McMahon is the master of the coverup. ... Linda was in charge of my brother, Linda was in charge of covering up the ring boy scandal," he said. The lawsuit was filed after a change in the statute of limitations in Maryland in regards to child sex abuse cases. As reported by CBS News, an attorney for Linda said "this civil lawsuit based upon thirty-plus year-old allegations is filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations, and misrepresentations."

Tragically, that wasn't the only accusation of assault connected to the WWE and its management, which would seem to inherently include Linda McMahon. Ashley Massaro worked for WWE as a wrestler, and she said that she was raped in 2006 while she was on an overseas trip with the company. She alleged that management knew what had happened and covered it up. There were also allegations that Vince McMahon had sexually harassed Massaro, who died by suicide in 2019.

Janel Grant, another former WWE employee, also sued the company in January 2024. The lawsuit alleged that she "was the victim of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and trafficking at WWE." Linda's name came up in the lawsuit. Allegedly, she'd found out about the relationship between Grant and Vince, and he had Grant sign an NDA to prevent his wife from divorcing him. Grant was reportedly one of the four women to whom Vince paid a total of $12 million in exchange for remaining quiet about relationships with him.

Vince and Linda separated in 2022, though they are still legally married. That isn't to say that she should be blamed for the actions of her husband. But what she knew and didn't do or say in regard to these allegations remains to be determined.

The WWE has also been an unsafe and toxic space for some of its performers. At times, Linda McMahon seemed to encourage this type of behavior by taking part in it. She was once seen in-character slapping her daughter, and at another time, she pretended to be unconscious while her husband kissed one of the female wrestlers. Sure, it was all made up as a spectacle for television, but some believe it raises questions about Linda's fitness to head up the Department of Education. In an interview with The New York Times, Andrew Fleischmann, a former Democrat in the Connecticut House of Representatives, expressed concerns about her nomination. "She's made tens or hundreds of millions of dollars pushing violence and sexualization of young women," he said. "She was a real force for doing ill to kids in our country."

Then there were the literal safety issues that plagued the WWE. While the storylines in the WWE ring may have been formulated, the pain was often real, and a number of wrestlers said they struggled with concussions that caused long-term brain damage. Chris Benoit was a WWE star who murdered his wife, son, and then died by suicide in 2007. It was confirmed later that he had brain damage, which doctors said may have developed from concussions he got as a wrestler.

Michael Benoit, Chris's father, wrote a letter to the Hartford Courant when Linda was first running for U.S. Senate in 2010. In it, he asked for people to not vote for her and accused her and others in WWE management of encouraging their employees to engage in dangerous actions, like hitting each other with steel chairs. He also explained how he felt his son's time in the WWE contributed to his murder-suicide.

Then there was the time in 1989 when Linda McMahon helped tip off a doctor that he might soon be under investigation by the FBI for giving steroids to professional wrestlers. The person in question was George T. Zahorian III, who had worked as a ringside doctor with the WWE. When she found out that authorities were closing in on him, she wrote a memo to someone else at the wrestling business telling them to tell Zahorian what was about to happen. As reported by Mother Jones, it read, in part: "Although you and I discussed before about continuing to have Zahorian at our events as the doctor on call, I think that is now not a good idea. Vince agreed, and would like for you to call Zahorian and to tell him not to come to any more of our events and to also clue him in on any action that the Justice Department is thinking of taking,". 

The memo didn't help. In 1991, Zahorian was arrested for illegally selling steroids to some pro wrestlers. That memo came to light during her 2010 bid for the Connecticut Senate seat, and it was used in attack ads against her. McMahon lost that race, as well as her second bid in 2012.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).