SPEAKING OUT

Cristiano Ronaldo Rape Accuser Seeks to Void Settlement

The previously anonymous accuser is speaking up for the first time to see if other women have similar allegations against the soccer star.

An American woman who has accused soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo of rape has spoken out publicly for the first time and moved to void a 2010 settlement agreement that kept her silent about the alleged assault. Kathryn Mayorga, who was previously identified in the press only under the pseudonym Susan K., told Der Spiegel that she’d previously been too afraid to speak out against the powerful sports star but now wants to tell her story to help other sexual assault survivors. Mayorga alleges that Ronaldo ambushed her and raped her at a Las Vegas party in 2009, forcing himself on her after she’d curled up into a ball and said, “No, no, no, no.” She alleges that he anally raped her without a condom and then wouldn’t let her leave the room until he could convince her he was really a “good guy.”

Mayorga’s comments come after the paper unearthed an out-of-court settlement last year that reportedly saw the soccer star pay her $375,000 on the condition that she’d keep her accusations to herself. Mayorga’s new lawyer, Leslie Stovall, has now filed a complaint in Nevada over the alleged rape that seeks to void that agreement. Stovall claims to have a document that, according to Der Spiegel, “contains a version of how Ronaldo experienced that night, including the following quote: ‘She said no and stop several times.’” Mayorga has said she regrets ever signing the agreement in the first place and hopes that her decision to come forward now will reveal whether other women have similar allegations against Ronaldo. “That question never let me go,” she told Der Spiegel. Ronaldo has denied the accusations, and his lawyers on Friday threatened to sue Der Spiegel for the “blatantly illegal” claims.