Stephanie Marie McMahon was born on September 24, 1976 in Hartford, Connecticut to Linda and Vince McMahon. She has one brother, Shane McMahon. Soon after her birth, the family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut. There, she attended the selective Greenwich Country Day School, throughout her elementary school years. At the age of 13, McMahon appeared in World Wrestling Federation (WWF) merchandise catalogs, modeling T-shirts and hats. After graduating from Greenwich High School in 1994, she attended Boston University and in 1998 earned a degree in Communications. After graduating in 1998, she began working for the WWF full-time.

In early 1999, at the suggestion of WWF writer Vince Russo McMahon debuted as the innocent and friendly daughter of Vince McMahon during an on-screen storyline involving Vince and The Undertaker. The Undertaker stalked and abducted McMahon at the end of the April Backlash pay-per-view, which culminated in him almost marrying her in the middle of the ring the next night on Raw, before being rescued by Stone Cold Steve Austin.

McMahon then began an on-screen relationship with wrestler Test, which led to a rivalry between him and her older brother Shane. After Test defeated Shane at SummerSlam in a “Love Her Or Leave Her Match”, McMahon and Test went on to team together in a match on September 20, 1999, with the couple defeating Jeff Jarrett and Debra. The couple were eventually engaged, but during the in-ring ceremony, Triple H showed a video which revealed that he had drugged McMahon and taken her to Las Vegas, Nevada where they were married in a drive-through ceremony. McMahon seemed to abhor Triple H at first, but at the inaugural Armageddon event, after Triple H defeated her father in a No Holds Barred Match, left with him after embracing. McMahon confronted Vince the next night on Raw and revealed the wedding was a planned event, which was a revenge plot against her father for the aforementioned kidnappings, thus turning her into a villainess.

In late 1999, with Vince McMahon absent as a result of injuries inflicted upon him by Triple H at the Armageddon pay-per-view, Triple H and McMahon became the on-screen owners of the WWF, a period known as the “McMahon-Helmsley Era” (slightly different from the modern era of “The Authority”) and dominated by the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. Triple H held the WWF Championship and McMahon held the WWF Women’s Championship after defeating champion Jacqueline with the help of Tori and D-Generation X on the March 28 episode of SmackDown! McMahon successfully defended her title against Lita on SmackDown on June 6 and 16. McMahon reconciled with her father and brother at WrestleMania 2000 when they helped Triple H defend his title against The Rock, leaving Linda McMahon as the only fan-favorite in the McMahon family.

McMahon entered the World Wrestling Federation (WWF/E) as a model and for the WWF’s sales and merchandise department, but started her WWF business career as an Account Executive for the WWF offices in New York. In her early years with the company, she did reception work, creative design, television production, and acted as a ring performer. In November 2000, McMahon became head writer of the company. After spending time as the director of creative writing, a job she had by 2002, she was promoted to Senior Vice President of Creative Writing in 2006.

McMahon has appeared on The Howard Stern Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Opie and Anthony. In May 2000, Stephanie appeared at the WBCN River Rave on-stage with friend, Cali, to introduce Godsmack and sign autographs in the festival area. In November 2001, McMahon appeared on a special episode of NBC’s The Weakest Link where WWF personalities competed against each other for their respective charities. She made it to the final two but lost to Triple H. On August 14, 2005, McMahon along with Stacy Keibler, appeared on the season five finale of MTV’s Punk’d, where she assisted with the prank played on Triple H.

McMahon began dating Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H, in 2000 during their scripted romance. The couple were engaged on Valentine’s Day in 2003 and were married on October 25, 2003 in a Roman Catholic ceremony at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Sleepy Hollow, New York. In a radio interview with Opie and Anthony in 2004, Levesque claimed he began dating McMahon after being apart from his previous girlfriend, Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, for some time, despite Laurer’s claims his relationship with McMahon began while they were still together. After their marriage, Stephanie took her husband’s surname and legally changed her middle name to McMahon.

Her team The Alliance consisting of her brother Shane, former WCW Champion Booker T., Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle and Steve Austin were defeated by Team WWF consisting of The Undertaker, Kane, Big Show, Chris Jericho and The Rock at Survivor Series in a five-on-five, Winner Takes All elimination match. The night after The Alliance was defeated, Shane and Stephanie were banished from WWF television. McMahon returned in January 2002 when Triple H made a comeback as a fan-favorite, but the good couple began having problems, as McMahon began acting like a nagging and clingy wife.

On July 18, 2002, McMahon returned to the WWE (formerly WWF until a lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund) as the general manager of SmackDown. In contrast to her McMahon-Helmsley era villain character, McMahon became a fan favorite, as she began to favor fan favorite wrestlers at that time. She feuded with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. On the October 31 episode of SmackDown! at a Halloween party, McMahon and Bischoff shared a kiss while McMahon was dressed as a witch and Bischoff was disguised as her father underneath a mask. McMahon was given credit for the return of the WWE United States Championship and for the creation of the WWE Tag Team Championship. She was also credited with signing Hulk Hogan back to SmackDown!, which caused friction between herself and her father.

Stephanie and her family are of Irish-American descent, and she has said she is proud of her Irish roots. At a WWE live event in Dublin, Republic of Ireland in 2004, McMahon spoke during a promo about how her family originally came from County Clare. Stephanie’s great-grandfather, Roderick James “Jess” McMahon, was born to Irish parents who had emigrated from Galway, Republic of Ireland to New York City during the 1870s.

McMahon returned as a villain once again on October 3, 2005 for Raw Homecoming, where she confronted Stone Cold Steve Austin and received a Stunner. On October 10, 2005, she, along with her father and, in a surprise twist, her mother fired Raw announcer Jim Ross.

A visibly pregnant McMahon also returned on the March 6, 2006 episode of Raw, approaching Shawn Michaels backstage and claiming to have abdominal pains. When Michaels left to get her some water, McMahon pulled out an unmarked substance out of her brassiere and poured it into his bottle of water. This substance caused him to become groggy during his match against Shane later in the night, which he lost as a result. McMahon also appeared at the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on April 1, 2006 and in a backstage vignette with her immediate family at WrestleMania 22.

McMahon was promoted to executive vice president of Creative in 2007. She was responsible for overseeing the creative process (storylines) for all television and pay-per-view programming. She oversaw all aspects of talent management and branding, live event booking and marketing, and all social and digital media properties.

McMahon returned during a backstage segment in April 2007 at WrestleMania 23, visiting her father before his “Battle of the Billionaires” match. After her father returned to Raw after faking his own death, McMahon publicly revealed that her father had an illegitimate child, who was among the WWE roster. On the taped edition of Raw that aired September 3, 2007, McMahon, along with her mother Linda and her brother Shane, made several appearances to confront Mr. McMahon about the child, who was later revealed to be Hornswoggle, turning into a fan favorite. On Raw’s 15 Year Anniversary episode, she appeared along with Shane in a segment—also involving her husband Triple H and Hornswoggle—which ended with her kissing her real life husband Triple H, to humiliate her father on Raw.

On March 28, 2009, McMahon appeared alongside her mother on Business News Network’s The Market Morning Show. McMahon as well has made several appearances on various ESPN shows. On November 11, 2009, McMahon appeared on an episode of Food Network’s Dinner: Impossible alongside wrestler Big Show. In October 2013, Stephanie became the honorary chairperson for the Special Olympics of Connecticut.

On July 23, 2012, McMahon made an appearance on the 1000th episode of Raw where she confronted and then slapped Paul Heyman to convince him to accept a match between Brock Lesnar and Triple H at SummerSlam. On April 6, 2013, McMahon inducted former on-screen rival Trish Stratus into the WWE Hall of Fame.

On December 4, 2013, WWE announced the promotion of McMahon to chief brand officer, where she will lead efforts to further enhance WWE’s brand reputation among key constituents including advertisers, media, business partners, and investors. She will also serve as the lead ambassador of WWE and work with business units to support key growth initiatives. She will also lead WWE’s targeted youth and moms marketing programs.

On June 3, 2013, McMahon made an appearance to reveal her decision not to allow Triple H to compete that night. On the June 17 episode of Raw, McMahon confronted new Divas Champion AJ Lee. On the July 8 episode of Raw, McMahon fired Vickie Guerrero from the position of Raw Managing Supervisor when the WWE Universe voted “Failed” during Guerrero’s job evaluation.

On the August 19 episode of Raw, McMahon turned heel when she interrupted Daniel Bryan and supported the actions of her husband at SummerSlam the previous night, telling Bryan that he wasn’t suitable to be the face of the company. Later in the night McMahon stood beside Triple H and her father as they celebrated Randy Orton’s WWE Championship Coronation, during which Daniel Bryan was attacked by The Shield and subsequently by Orton. In November 2013, McMahon signed a three-year performer’s contract with the WWE, confirming her as a regular on its programming. She and Triple H continued to rule the company as a controlling “power couple” dubbed The Authority. Swearing that their actions were “best for business”, the pair would belittle and punish any talent that went against their ideology, and formed a particular vendetta against Daniel Bryan. McMahon was at ringside when Triple H lost to Bryan at WrestleMania XXX.

On February 5, 2014, McMahon along with CMO and CRO Michelle Wilson announced a partnership between WWE and KaBOOM! to build a playground for WWE’s annual WrestleMania week in Louisiana. McMahon earned a combined salary of over $775,000 between her corporate role and as an on-screen talent in 2013. She also owns over $77 million in WWE stock.

On April 15, 2014 during WWE’s annual Business Partners Summit, McMahon confirmed that a new WWE logo would debut the night after WWE SummerSlam, although it was already showing up on WWE products like the WWE Network and NXT.

In June 2014, as part of the ongoing storyline with Bryan, McMahon threatened to fire his wife Brie Bella if Bryan did not relinquish the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which forced Brie to quit before slapping McMahon in the face. On the June 16 episode of Raw, Roman Reigns spiked the coffee Vickie Guerrero gave to McMahon, causing Stephanie to throw up on Vickie and leave with Triple H to the hospital. Vickie later gave Reigns a chance in the battle royal, which he would win. On the June 23 episode of Raw, Vickie lost in a pudding match against McMahon with her job on the line, after interference by Alicia Fox, Layla and Rosa Mendes. Vickie ultimately lost the match and was fired; however, she got her retribution over McMahon by throwing her into the mud pool. After Brie quit, McMahon put Brie’s sister Nikki in several handicap matches as punishment. Brie returned to television on the July 21 episode of Raw, appearing in the crowd leading to a confrontation between the two. McMahon was (kayfabe) arrested and charged with assault and battery, because she slapped Brie, who was not a (kayfabe) WWE employee The following week, McMahon granted Brie her job back and a match at SummerSlam against her in order to get Brie to drop the lawsuit. On the August 4 episode of Raw, after their contract signing, McMahon pedigreed both twins. At SummerSlam, Nikki turned on Brie, allowing Stephanie to hit a pedigree on Brie having Stephanie win her first pay per view match in over 10 years.

Stephanie has also appeared in numerous WWE video games which are WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF SmackDown!, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWE Raw 2, WWE WrestleMania X8, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE Crush Hour, WWE WrestleMania XIX, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, WWE ’13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18 and WWE 2K19. and was periodically featured during the first season of the E! television series Total Divas. On December 2, 2014, WWE released the WWE Fit Series, starring McMahon as a trainer in a fitness video designed for women. Triple H starred in a similar video for men titled WWE Power Series.

In May 2016, Stephanie announced via Twitter that she will be writing her memoir and it is expected to be released in 2020.