WILLIN TO LIVE NO MATTER WHAT

Though vanity has to be put aside when someone faces a tragedy like Charla’s, she says she was never a vain person. “I was like a bag lady,” she says. “I’d wear my snowsuit, my winter coat and my ski hat on my head. Every once in a while I’d get dressed up and nobody knew it was me.”

Charla says she really can’t be concerned with what other people think about her looks now. “I’m the one who has to like this,” she says. “Not them. So it doesn’t matter what they say.”

The people who love Charla know that she’s the same person she always was, and she says that’s the most important thing. “I just look different,” she says. “Things happen in life that you can’t change. It’s a tragedy.”

The Nash family is suing Sandra Herold for $50 million. Though Herold had no comment regarding Oprah’s interview, her lawyer issued a statement. “All of Sandy’s hopes and prayers are with Charla and her daughter in this challenging time. Sandy has always tried to help Charla and wished her the best. 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.”

The Feb. 16 attack occurred when Herold asked her friend Nash to help lure the animal back into her house in Stamford. The chimpanzee ripped off Nash’s hands, nose, lips and eyelids.

Police shot and killed the animal. Nash has been hospitalized since. She remains in stable condition at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Nash told Winfrey that she is not in pain, but can’t breathe through her nose and has to eat through a straw. She said she doesn’t touch her face very often.

“I know that I have my forehead,” Nash said. “It feels like just patches of tape or gauze or covering, covering my face.”

It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago, when an eye doctor told Nash she no longer had her eyes, that she realized she would never see again, she said. Nash said she doesn’t ask many questions about her injuries.