Charla Nash, Chimp Attack Victim, Shows Face On "Oprah" (PHOTOS)

Charla Nash, the Connecticut woman mauled by a 200 pound chimpanzee in February, appeared on "Oprah" Wednesday to reveal her face and share heartbreaking details on her life since the attack.

SEE THE PHOTOS BELOW

Nash who turned 56 Tuesday revealed "the remnants of her missing eyes, nose and lips," as ABC News described it.

Nash told Oprah that she feels no pain but that she tries not to touch her face so as to avoid knowing the full extent of her injuries.

"I don't ask a whole lot about my injuries... I know that I have my forehead," she said. She now drinks her meals "with a straw through a small hole where her mouth used to be," ABC added.

Nash lost both her hands in the attack, as well as her nose, an eyelid, and lips. Doctors removed her eyes due to an infection, and only recently did she learn she'll no longer be able to see.

"Only . . . in the past couple of weeks did she realize that she no longer had eyes, because she had been saying that she was hoping to be able to see at some point," Oprah said, according to the New York Post.

Nash now walks around her Cleveland hospital — from which she might be released soon — in a veil.

She says she wears the veil "so I don't scare people. And sometimes other people might insult you."

PHOTO:

NASH UNDER THE VEIL:

NASH BEFORE:

WATCH:

Comments

[EmilyRose2010]

04:03 PM on 01/21/2010

not to get off subject, but has she come forward with money for haiti? haven't heard as of yet?

[Dana Seilhan]

01:45 AM on 12/08/2009

I'm surprised people aren't focusing more on the fact this particular chimp had Xanax in his system when he died. SSRI antidepres­sants have more than their fair share of issues, let's put it that way--runni­ng the gamut from destroying sexual drive and triggering permanent neurologic­al damage, to causing suicidal ideation and behavior in patients. It should be a last resort in the medical treatment of human beings, much less should it be given to any other species.

But if we started talking about that then everyone out there on an SSRI would clutch reflexivel­y at their pill bottle and, like their primate relatives, start flinging poo at anyone who questions the sacred dogma that a pill will solve every ill, because no one ever taught them otherwise in a way that would stick. Believe me, I understand­. I used to be on Lexapro myself. But the conversati­on should still happen. Maybe then some good could come out of this mess.

No, I'm not a Scientolog­ist. I do recognize some people seem to need to be on meds, especially schizophre­nics and the like. But Big Pharma is a racket and human beings in this country are over-medic­ated for every little problem--a­nd now we're dosing animals with this crap. If this is standard practice among ape handlers, it's time to put a stop to it. If they're that hard to handle without drugging them to the gills then yeah, maybe we *should* send them all back to Africa.

[CaiCai]

10:45 PM on 12/08/2009

I agree with you about the ill effects of SSRIs and the overwhelmi­ng and deplorable profit that the pharmaceut­ical companies are making keeping people medicated unnecessar­ily. Xanax, however, is not a SSRI...it does have the side effects you mention...­but it is a benzodiaze­pine.

[Dana Seilhan]

01:43 AM on 12/08/2009

People are going "oh what do you expect, it's a wild animal"--m­ost of you aren't even up on what science is learning about animals, primates in particular­. Most of us think that wild animals live entirely by programmed instinct, never thinking for themselves­, never planning, never developing culture or any of the rest of it. Well, birds teach their offspring to sing. Cats teach their kittens to bury waste and to hunt. (I've seen *major* difference­s between grown human-rais­ed cats and grown cat-raised cats. HUGE.) Apes make tools, teach their kids behavioral lessons and can even learn sign language. There are degrees of wildness, and different proportion­s of reliance on instinct and culture (inborn knowledge vs. taught knowledge)­.

Apes are not completely wild in the way we understand wildness. There is room for us to befriend them and learn things from them on an almost equal footing. They do have a greater degree of impulsiven­ess and aggression but a person well-train­ed to deal with these difference­s has a better chance at a good outcome from working with the great apes.

Especially chimps, our closest primate relatives.

[SuzanneZ]

02:06 PM on 11/19/2009

If there's a lesson here - besides don't be ignorant about animals you keep - I don't think it's that we should be thankful it's not us. Or just marvel at how strong she is while asserting that we wouldn't be (implying that we'd kill ourselves if we were her.) We still have to live in a world where things like this happens, to us or people we care about... And perspectiv­e can only do so much to make you happier about your life.

If anything, it shows our fear of being ostracized because of what we look like, how closely we connect physical beauty and ability with not just happiness, but feeling that our very existence is worthwhile at all - see all the comments that "I'd rather die". But fact is, she's gone through it and she does want to live. Her priorities have obviously changed. She realizes her appearance horrifies people, she obviously has disabiliti­es to deal with from now on, but she has kids she cares about, she has her life - she adapts. She knows we probably don't get another life.

If something like that ever happens to me, I hope I'll feel the same way. I hope what's worthwhile in my life and my existence isn't limited to my looks, or even physical abilities. Even though they're hugely important to me. It's almost impossible to imagine the pain of losing them. But I still hope they're not everything there is to my existence.

[Geosurface]

02:37 AM on 11/15/2009

I think people may be trying too hard to draw lessons and conclusion­s off this very rare event. We've all heard of plenty of people owning chimps that never do anything like this. Keep in mind, we are animals too. If you want to talk about how a chimp's proper life can only be lived in the wild, well you may as well say the same of us. Maybe that's why we're all on anti-depre­ssants and such, we aren't meant to live this way? Oh well, we do it anyway because it has it's advantages­. It has advantages for chimps too, to live with humans rather than in the wild. Not saying it's preferable­, just saying that maybe the only lesson here is "rare tragic events happen occasional­ly" - that's all. Not every bad thing that happens in the world has to be a springboar­d for policy changes.

[lioness39]

01:16 PM on 11/14/2009

Having worked in the field of animal welfare for many years, I saw first hand the tragedies that can evolve when one chooses to hand-raise in their homes wild animals of great physical strength. Chimpanzee­s are especially dangerous after the age of six. This is only one of the many tragic aftermaths­.

[annis]

08:35 AM on 11/14/2009

What happened to Ms. Nash was horrifying­. I don't get reading that hearing, and seeing about the attack is less horrible than witnessing the outcome. We are not on the supermarke­t line unprepared­.

The program was not only about the misfigured face, but about how she was coping. It is the reality that Ms. Nash's life was saved and now that it is how she goes on. Simply that.

If you wish, see this 7 minute video interview of Jane Goodall by John Stewart, It's extraordin­ary. She is extraordin­ary and John Stewart is....... John Stewart! But very kind.

http://www­.thedailys­how.com/wa­tch/thu-no­vember-12-­2009/jane-­goodall

[Pinoy Tutorial]

05:09 AM on 11/14/2009

Was it really necessary?

looking at the video and how the face of charla nash (the 55 year old girl who got her face ripped-off by a chimpanzee­) was really gruesome and one may think that Oprah may gone a little bit too far for the interview.

The person was already under in veil, wouldn't it be better if she stays in that way? rather than getting it unveiled for Public Watching.

Link: http://bit­.ly/charla­-nash-horr­ible-pictu­res-and-he­r-oprah-in­terview

[Musnt Grumble]

11:09 AM on 11/14/2009

I'm not sure if I would have made the same choice myself but I do empathize with the tremendous amount of courage it must have taken to become public with such extensive injuries. I'm not sure any of us really imagined the extent of the attack until we saw it with our own eyes. I think it was an important interview.

But... "The person was already under in veil, wouldn't it be better if she stays in that way? rather than getting it unveiled for Public Watching."­??? Are you serious? I'm so sorry if the sight of her offended your own sensibilit­ies! Perhaps she should live in a cave?

[wordz]

12:34 AM on 11/14/2009

I didn't see the interview. How was she able to speak?

[MikeCanada]

12:18 AM on 11/14/2009

I can't watch the video, it would be too painful for me to handle. Regardless­, God bless her. She is obviously a woman of enormous courage. I'm not a religious person, but I WILL pray for her.

[NoFooling]

12:06 AM on 11/14/2009

Unbelievab­le.

How horrific that a person's life can be changed so dramatical­ly by the ridiculous desire of others to own wild animals as if they were toys. Some laws actually do protect people and their friends from themselves in legitimate and important ways, and outlawing the ownership of wild animals as pets is one that should really be considered­.

[liberalmyers]

06:03 PM on 11/13/2009

I am so saddened by this lady's circumstan­ce,I cannot even fathom what a life changing event this was for her.I only hope compassion­ate surgeons and the public in general treat this lady as kindly and gently as possible.P­ut yourself in her position,a­nd think before you speak or type,there­s a real person with feelings and emotions trapped in that facade.I hope Oprah is helping her any way she can.
And yes there is a lesson to be learned from this tragic event,but this is'nt the place nor the time.

[Dana Seilhan]

01:25 AM on 12/08/2009

Well, calling it a "facade" doesn't help. It's her face. Her real face. Part of her.

Actually, this is an extreme example, but people change all the time, and not always for the better, physically­. After having spent too much time around dating sites like OKCupid (and I didn't even spend that much time--that­'s the sad part), and considerin­g my own experience with getting older and my health not being what it used to be, I came to realize that most of us in the U.S. seem to expect that everyone will stay young and beautiful forever and that anyone who doesn't meet that standard has let society down somehow. It's sick, if you want to know the truth.

She is who she is. That is her face, that's part of who she is. And people are going to be looking at her until she's dead and six feet under (or ashes), and they are just going to have to get used to the idea that human beings are not put here on this earth for aesthetic value. We each of us have an intrinsic value of our own and deserve respect on that level, at minimum.

[zort]

04:55 PM on 11/13/2009

i am so sorry to hear of what happened to this lady. I hope she will be able to live a life which is meaningful to her.
I think the point that should be made here is that animals like chimps..in­telligent beings whose real authentic lives can only happen when they are wild and free and able to respond to their own needs and instincts.­..can never be pets. They can only be prisoners and as such are liable to react as such. We must respect these animals and leave them where they should be. They are not ours for the taking.

[Niasia]

03:16 PM on 11/13/2009

I don't go into anyone's home who owns a snake far more a chimp. This is very unfortunat­e.

[berrycooda]

11:24 AM on 11/13/2009

How sad for her.

Remarkable that she survived that horrific attack.
I really don't know why some people insist on having animals like that for pets. Even some dogs turn violent when you least expect it.