Who Is the 'Naked Athena' Who Confronted Federal Agents at Portland Protest?

For the first time, people are seeing the face of a mystery woman dubbed “naked Athena” after images of her confronting federal agents as they faced off with protesters in Portland went viral. Now, everyone wants to know who’s behind the black face mask.

Video obtained by Inside Edition shows the woman arriving at the scene of the protest and striding confidently toward the line of federal officers. There are also photos showing that she cut her feet during the protest. Pepper balls exploded in front of her and clouds of tear gas mushroomed near her, but she never flinched.

The mystery woman was dubbed Athena after the warrior goddess in Greek mythology. She’s also being compared with another legendary naked woman: Lady Godiva, who rode her horse naked to protest taxes on the poor. The Los Angeles Times called her an “apparition.” Admirers on social media called her “unarmed, unprotected and unafraid” and “the hero our wounded country needs” while others said she was “shameless.” 

A friend of the woman told Inside Edition that she wishes to remain anonymous.

"She is a very outspoken feminist, and just a really strong courageous person," the friend said. "She just went and stood in front of them and faced them down and in a very vulnerable way. There's nothing a naked person can possibly do to harm a soldier. I think it made a very powerful statement."

Meanwhile, a Navy vet at the protest, 53-year-old Christopher David, is also grabbing headlines after he stood and took a beating from agents.

“I thought it was pretty awesome. All of these geared up macho men were afraid of one naked woman,” David told Inside Edition.

The Trump administration is expected to deploy hundreds of federal officers to Chicago this week after police officers were seen being pelted with frozen water bottles as they guarded a statue of Christopher Columbus in Grant Park.

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