FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A woman with ties to Fort Wayne is being awarded $5 million in the case that accuses former president Donald Trump of raping her in 1996.

Before her highly publicized lawsuit against Trump, E. Jean Carroll made a name for herself in the mid-1990s with an advice column in Elle magazine, stories published in Esquire and even a writing stint on Saturday Night Live.

But her roots are in Fort Wayne.

Carroll – who some have said was known as Jeannie during her young adult years – graduated from South Side High School in 1961, according to a 1996 article in the Journal Gazette. She said the school played a part in making her the woman she became.

“There’d be no way I’d be working at Esquire today unless I had graduated from South Side,” the Journal Gazette quoted Carroll as saying. She was given the distinguished alumni award in 1996 at an event celebrating 75 years of the high school.

Carroll went public in 2019 with her allegation that Trump raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store, according to the Associated Press.

Jurors rejected Carroll’s claims that she was raped, but found Trump liable Tuesday for sexual abuse and for defaming Carroll after she made her allegations public, the Associated Press said.

The Journal Gazette’s article said she was nominated for an Emmy for her writing on “Saturday Night Live” and has also written several books, along with her time as a contributing editor at Esquire and as an advice columnist for Elle magazine.