NH Woman Drops Lawsuit Against Bill Cosby: 'He Gave Me His Power'
WINDHAM, NH (CBS) – A 72-year-old New Hampshire woman who claims Bill Cosby raped her more than four decades ago has withdrawn her lawsuit against the comedian. Kristina Ruehli says it took just a sip of her second drink before Cosby brought her drugged and unconscious into his bed.
"Got up, threw up violently several times," Ruehli said in an interview with WBZ. "And, then, remembering back, I remember now that I was so ashamed because my clothes were all off. And, I was going, 'how did this happen?'"
It was Beverly Hills, 1965, and the then secretary at a talent agency told her boyfriend not the police.
"Neither one of us felt that we would be believed," she said. "I thought he was a client of my company. I could have gotten fired."
Five decades later, the Windham, New Hampshire woman says she can finally let the memory drift away. This week she dropped her defamation lawsuit against Cosby, giving up a potential payout.
Why? Her boyfriend from 1965 was deposed and a judge denied Cosby's request to drop the case. She says it finally validates her story.
"It's in print. It's in the media. He gave me his power," she said.
She joined the legal battle against Cosby in 2005 testifying as Jane Doe in the civil suit filed by another Cosby accuser.
In 2015 she launched her own defamation suit against the once beloved entertainer.
Today she feels free. "It feels wonderful," she says.
And soon, she believes she won't be alone. "He has never spoken. And, I don't know that he ever will because he knows, that we're all telling the truth."