The Connecticut woman left horrifically disfigured by an attacking, 200-pound chimpanzee unveiled her mutilated face on TV yesterday — incredibly insisting she bears no bitterness.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Charla Nash, 56, said she usually walks around the Cleveland Clinic with her face covered so she doesn’t frighten hospital visitors.
“So I don’t scare people . . . so I figure maybe it’s easier if I just walk around covered up,” Nash said.
She was mauled by a chimp owned by her friend Sandra Herold in Stamford on Feb. 16.
CLICK HERE FOR IMAGE OF NASH (WARNING, GRAPHIC)
Nash has no memory of the attack — and doesn’t want to have any, saying she’ll take medication to help her forget.
“They have medicine that will help me with that,” she said. “I don’t want to [remember] . . . I want to get healthy. I don’t want to wake up with nightmares.”
Nash lost her nose, hands, an eye lid and lips. Surgeons had to remove her eyes in April due to an infection.
Oprah’s interview with Nash was taped Tuesday and began with the host conversing with the victim through her veil.
Minutes into the chat, Oprah asked if she could remove the cover, and Nash consented.
Then Oprah nonchalantly got out of her chair and took off Nash’s hat and veil.
TV viewers were met with the jarring image of Nash — bandages over her scalp, no eyes, a bloody scar where her left eye used to be and a chunk of skin, transplanted from her thigh, in the middle of her face where her nose and mouth once were.
Underneath that hunk of flesh is a hole where her surgically rebuilt tongue is, allowing Nash to softly speak. Her interview was subtitled.
Nash said she can’t be bitter.
“No, I don’t ever think about it and there’s no time for that anyway because I need to heal, not look backward,” she said.
Nash takes daily walks around the Cleveland Clinic, enjoying the sun’s warmth when she passes a window.
She hopes to get a face transplant and have her mouth rebuilt with new lips. For now, her only nutrition comes through a straw — and she longs to chomp on more substantial food.
“Yeah like a hot dog or a piece of pizza — that would be nice,” she said.
At the show’s conclusion, Oprah embraced Nash and grabbed her right thumb — the only finger she has left.
“It is really shocking,” Oprah told her Chicago audience of Nash’s horribly disfigured face.
“But after sitting with her, you feel the power of her humanity.”
Police responding to the attack shot and killed the rampaging 14-year-old chimp Travis.
Nash’s family plans to sue Connecticut for $150 million, claiming officials failed to prevent the attack. She’s also suing Herold for $50 million.
Herold’s lawyer, Robert Golger, said, “When Charla lost her job, it was Sandy who provided her with employment and a place to live.
“Sandy hopes and prays for a full and speedy recovery.”
Oprah lauded Nash.
“Charla, thank you for sharing your story with us and showing your face to the world on your own terms,” said Oprah, who sang “Happy Birthday” to Nash — a birthday girl on Tuesday.