HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Charla Nash, the Connecticut woman attacked by a 200-pound chimp earlier this year, revealed her heavily disfigured face for the first time Wednesday on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
“I’m the same person I’ve always been,” said Nash, who wears a veil so her appearance doesn’t scare people. “I just look different.”
The Feb. 16 attack occurred when the chimpanzee’s owner, Sandra Herold, asked Nash, her longtime friend and employee, to help lure the animal back into her house.
“I don’t even think about it,” Nash said of the attack. “And there’s no time for that anyways because I need to heal, you know, not look backwards.”
Nash, who is currently being treated at Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic, said she hopes to educate others and prevent future accidents.
“I’d like to put across to people’s minds that these exotic animals are very dangerous and they shouldn’t be around,” she said. “There’s a place for them that is not in residential areas, that’s for sure.”
