UPDATE: Bill Cosby was formally charged on Dec. 30 with sexually assaulting Andrea Constand 12 years ago.
TORONTO — Andrea Constand must have felt some vindication Monday after the release of documents that show Bill Cosby admitted in 2005 to drugging her.
In a deposition, Cosby said he gave Constand three half-pills of Benadryl. But, he also admitted giving Quaaludes to a young woman in Las Vegas in the ’70s and to unnamed others.
Constand, a registered massage therapist in Toronto, has known about Cosby’s confession for a decade but has been prohibited from talking about it under the terms of a settlement with the now 77-year-old comedian.
Constand was one of the first women to publicly accuse Cosby of sexual assault.
On Monday, she tweeted: “YES!” and “SIR!”
Cosby, whose lawyers have repeatedly denied allegations against him, has not been charged with a criminal offence.
READ MORE: Cosby’s quaalude confession could bolster defamation suit
Constand and Cosby became friends in 2002, shortly after she started working as director of operations for the women’s basketball program at Philadelphia’s Temple University.
Cosby, who studied physical education at Temple in the early ’60s and served on its board of trustees from 1982 until last year, regularly attended games.
BELOW: Jackson Proskow reports on the revelations in the Bill Cosby deposition.
According to court filings from both sides, Constand often attended dinner parties, and occasionally private dinners, at Cosby’s home in Elkins Park, a suburb of Philadelphia.
Constand has alleged that after a night out with friends in January 2004, Cosby invited her to his home and listened to her complaints about stress. She alleged the comedian gave her three blue pills he claimed were herbal to help her relax.
Constand said the pills made her semi-conscious and she alleged that Cosby touched her breasts and crotch and put her hand on his penis.
She claimed she woke up around 4 a.m. to find her clothing askew.
Constand returned to Canada in April 2004 and continued to have some contact with Cosby. According to the Toronto Sun, she took parents Andy and Gianna to meet Cosby at an August 2004 show at Casino Rama.
On Jan. 13, 2005 — a year after the alleged sexual assault in Pennsylvania — Constand filed a complaint against Cosby with Ontario’s Durham Regional Police, who passed the case on to police in Cheltenham Township, Pa.
According to a Philadelphia Inquirer in January 2005, Constand said: “I did what I thought was right.”
She refused to talk about her allegations. “I don’t express my feelings to anyone about this situation. I just don’t.”
BELOW: Michelle Miller reports that embattled comedian Bill Cosby admitted in 2005 to buying quaaludes to give to young women.
After an investigation, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. declined to file charges against Cosby.
“Everyone involved in this matter cooperated with investigators, including the complainant and Mr. Cosby,” Castor said in a Feb. 17, 2005 news release. “A conviction under the circumstances of this case would be unattainable.”
In an interview last year with The Times Herald of Pennsylvania, Castor reiterated he couldn’t prosecute Cosby in 2005 “because there wasn’t enough evidence that was reliable and admissible that could … result in a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
“We didn’t have enough evidence to win the case … That was primarily due to the fact that she delayed a year in reporting it.”
In February 2005, shortly after learning he would not be charged, Cosby was asked about Constand’s allegations. “I’m not saying that what I did was wrong,” he told the National Enquirer, “but I apologize to my loving wife, who has stood by my side for all these years, for any pain I have caused her.”
He vowed not to “give in to people who try to exploit me because of my celebrity status.”
(Cosby testified he gave the Enquirer an exclusive interview about Constand’s allegations in exchange for the tabloid spiking a second accuser’s story.)
Six days after the Enquirer story was published, Constand filed a lawsuit against Cosby alleging “battery, assault, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, defamation and false light/invasion of privacy.”
Among the evidence were phone conversations between Cosby and Constand’s mother Gianna, in which the comedian allegedly offered cash.
Publicity about the case prompted 13 women to come forward with similar allegations.
The civil suit was settled on Nov. 8, 2006 before any of the women could testify.
READ MORE: Excerpts of statements by Bill Cosby in 2005 deposition
Though her name is back in the public realm (her lawyer told The Associated Press she consented to be identified), Constand is not able to comment due to the conditions of the settlement with Cosby.
Calls to Constand by Global News were not answered and a recording indicated that her voice mail was full. Her mother has not responded to an interview request.
By all accounts, Constand has moved on with her life without completely putting aside her connection to Cosby. On Jan. 7, she attended Voices Carry, a fundraiser for victims of sexual assault held in Kitchener, Ont. on the same night Cosby performed in the city.
Six-feet tall with long curly hair, an infectious smile and a number of tattoos, the woman nicknamed Dre is an outdoor enthusiast and dog lover who works as a registered massage therapist at the Sutherland-Chan Clinic in downtown Toronto.
“I specialize in treating people who have been affected by cancer,” she explains in a profile on the Society for Oncology Massage website.
“I also treat a number of medically related diseases including arthritis, fibromyalgia, sports injuries, and everyday aches and pains, as well as deep tissue massage therapy.”
Constand also offers massage therapy services by appointment via her website.
Born in Canada to a Greek father and Italian mother, Constand was a star basketball player at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute in Toronto with a dream of becoming the first Canadian in the WNBA. She earned a scholarship to play at the University of Arizona.
Constand was on the Canadian team at the 1997 World University Games in Sicily, where she was recruited to play for a European team.
After 18 months, she returned to Ontario and worked at a Nike store before landing the Temple University job — and meeting Cosby.
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