Bill Cosby Accuser Speaks Out

Andrea Constand remained something of an enigma over the years her sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby played out in Pennsylvania courts and the public square. An athlete and spiritual seeker turned massage therapist, she lived a quiet life with her dogs in Toronto until the case burst open again in 2015. She had remained largely anonymous during the initial police investigation in 2005, when a local prosecutor declined to arrest Cosby. And she signed a nondisclosure agreement a year later when she settled her lawsuit against the entertainer for $3.4 million. However, after details of the settlement were aired in court, Constand decided to tell her story in a memoir out Tuesday called The Moment. The book lands amid a stunning turn of events in the case, per the AP.

The 84-year-old Cosby, after spending nearly three years in prison, walked free in June when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 conviction. “Now that I have weathered yet another strange turn in this long saga, I realize that I cannot let reversals like the (Pennsylvania) Supreme Court decision defeat me," Constand, 48, writes in a late addition to the book, describing her new work as an advocate for sexual assault victims. "Life is unpredictable. Much is beyond our control. In the end, happiness is all that matters and I am determined to live a happy, purposeful life." Prosecutors in suburban Philadelphia must decide this month whether to appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court.

• Constand talks to the New York Times and describes the moment she learned of Cosby's release: “I had a lump in my throat,” she says. “I really felt they were setting a predator loose and that made me sick.”
• She also gave an interview to the Today show: "Disgusting," she said of seeing Cosby celebrate his release. "Didn't surprise me, given the level of the arrogance and having no remorse. During the time he was incarcerated, absolutely zero remorse for what he did to me." She added: "He's a sexually violent predator who basically was let out of jail."

(More Andrea Constand stories.)