A 73-year-old woman who accused Bill Cosby of attempted rape dropped her defamation lawsuit against the comedian Friday (June 24). Kristina Ruehli of New Hampshire, says she walked away from the legal battle because she achieved her goal of illuminating Cosby’s numerous sexual assault accusations.
According to the Associated Press, Ruehli withdrew the suit a day after a U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni ruled that it could continue.
Ruehli is the oldest known accuser among dozens of women who say Cosby either tired or succeeded at sexually assaulting them at some point over the last four decades. She claims Cosby drugged and attempted to rape her in 1965, when she was a 22-year-old secretary at a Los Angeles talent agency.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Ruehli maintained that her suit wasn’t motivated by money or publicity. But after spending $80,000 of her own money. she chose to walk away.
”I do not want Cosby’s money, as I have wealth of my own. And, at age 73, it’s a little too late for celebrity,” she told the Post.
In her defamation suit, filed last year in Massachusetts federal court, Ruehli alleged that Cosby brought her “public scorn and ridicule” by saying she lied about the rape attempt.
Ruehli’s voluntary withdrawal, comes six months after another accuser’s defamation suit against Cosby was dismissed by a judge.
“For those in the media who accepted every allegation raised without question or evaluation, they need to answer the well-known question with respect to Mr. Cosby, ‘Which office do I go to get my reputation back?’,” Cosby’s rep, Andrew Wyatt said in a statement to AP.
While the defamation suit may be over, Cosby still faces lawsuits from other accusers. In January, the 78-year-old comic legend was formally charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault stemming from a 2004 case involving former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.
Cosby settled a civil suit with Constand for an undisclosed amount of money in 2005. A trial date for his assault case has not been set.