(NewsNation) — Former WWE star Ashley Massaro’s friend Cara Pipia says that Massaro’s alleged decision to reject Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s sexual advances resulted in her career being “flipped upside down.”
“I was expecting all these cool, amazing stories about Playboy Mansion,” Pipia said during a Wednesday interview with NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield. “When she came back … she was treated like an outcast.”
Pipia told “Banfield” that when Massaro left a Playboy Mansion shoot and returned to work, WWE co-founder Vince McMahon” allegedly started saying “demeaning, sexual, uncomfortable things.”
“Eventually what she (Massaro) grew to understand and learn was this was expected. … Groom and pass and comply. And it’s part of your contract. You’re gonna get Playboy cover. You’re gonna go on Survivor. You’re not gonna make much money off of it,” Pipia asid.
Massaro died by suicide in 2019 after accusing McMahon of covering up an alleged rape that took place on a military base in 2006. WWE denied ever being informed. Pipia previously told “Banfield” that Massaro “spent hours” sobbing in her arms after the alleged rape.
Massaro “knows it was multiple (rapes), at least two or three times. She was in and out of consciousness, trying desperately to stay awake. She couldn’t,” Pipia said.
Federal authorities are currently investigating sexual assault and sexual trafficking allegations against McMahon.
According to a federal lawsuit, Janel Grant, who worked at the company’s headquarters, alleged that McMahon sexually exploited her and attempted to traffic her to other WWE employees. Grant says she was abused by McMahon and was allegedly forced to have sex with WWE’s former head of talent relations John Laurinaitis — all while working for the company.
McMahon resigned as executive chairman of WWE parent TKO Group after the former employee filed a 67-page federal lawsuit.
WWE President Nick Khan and COO Brad Blum have also been identified as key figures in Grant’s lawsuit, Front Office Sports reports. Khan and Blum’s names were not previously reported in the lawsuit, and they are not personally accused of sexual misconduct.
The suit claims that “they and others facilitated and covered up exploitation in ways that make WWE liable under federal anti-trafficking law,” the report says.