#MeToo movement gave Ronaldo accuser ‘courage’ to come forward

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 26, 2018 Juventus’ Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo looks on during the Italian Serie A football match between Juventus and Bologna at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
Cristiano Ronaldo on October 3, 2018 categorically denied accusations by a former model who says the Portuguese superstar raped her in a Las Vegas hotel penthouse suite in 2009.”I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me,” tweeted the 33-year-old, who plays for Juventus in Italy’s Serie A. “Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.”
/ AFP PHOTO

LAS VEGAS, United States (AFP) — Kathryn Mayorga, the American former model who has accused soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009, decided to go public with her allegations as a result of the #MeToo movement, her lawyer said Wednesday.

“The MeToo movement and the women who have stood up and disclosed sexual assaults has given Kathryn a lot of courage, and has enabled her to come forward,” her lawyer Leslie Stovall told a press conference.

© Agence France-Presse