The following article includes discussions of abuse and sexual assault.
Vince and Linda McMahon were once regarded as a true power couple.
However, the writing had been on the wall long before Vince’s more recent scandals.
Vince was born to wrestling promoter Vincent J. McMahon and Victoria Hanner (later Victoria Askew).
However, Vince wasn’t properly introduced to his birth father until he was 12.
Vince grew up as Vinnie Lupton a surname that came from his stepfather Leo Lupton.
In a 2001 interview with Playboy, Vince revealed that Leo was severely physically abusive.
“First time I remember, I was six years old.
The slightest provocation would set him off.”
“It’s unfortunate that he died before I could kill him,” Vince said of his stepfather.
“I would have enjoyed that.”
When Vince was 16, he met a 13-year-old Linda.
“It was an Ozzie and Harriet life.
There wasn’t screaming and beating.”
The scandal would also come to haunt Linda after she decided to go into politics.
Just one month after the suit was filed, Donald Trump tapped Linda to lead the Department of Education.
PerThe Washington Post, Linda’s lawyer called the suit “baseless.”
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In 2009, however, Linda resigned from her position in the family business to pursue her political career.
In 2010, Linda ran as a Republican for one of Connecticut’s seats in the U.S. Senate.
Linda made another bid for the Senate in 2012, this time challenging Democrat Chris Murphy.
Murphy won that election, and subsequently won re-election in 2018 and 2024.
The Democratic group Progress Connecticut ran a similar ad during the 2012 election cycle.
“And at the office, she was never in the same place as Vince McMahon.
Which, maybe that’s the way they were still married and living under the same roof.
So, it wasn’t like they were walking hand in hand down the dew-kissed meadow in Greenwich.”
What’d she spend, $80 million to run for Senate?
Like she’s going to be a f***ing senator.
… And, you know, all the other things she has done … that was her settlement.
She don’t have to do s***, she’s got all the money she needs.
The wild guy."
Still, it was far from an isolated incident.
“But one day she asked me, point-blank, ‘Are you having an affair with so-and-so?'”
Vince said (viaConnecticut Post).
“And I’ve never lied to her.
Then she asked, ‘What about such and such?’
I said, ‘Yes, yes, and yes.'”
Vince went on to claim that he had been faithful for about six years at that point.
Vince maintained his innocence, though agreed to settle (perThe Wall Street Journal).
However, the suit also says Vince claimed to have feared divorce once Linda found out what was happening.
