‘I Was a Limp Noodle.’ Andrea Constand Opens Up for the First Time About the Night Bill Cosby Sexually Assaulted Her

Andrea Constand, whose sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby led to last month’s felony charges, is speaking out for the first time since the 2004 incident.

Constand, who accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her at his Philadelphia home 13 years ago, opened up about the night in question on a Dateline special airing Friday.

In 2004, Constand was the operations manager for Temple University’s women’s basketball program. She said Cosby, a mentor and Temple alumni, had invited her to his home under the guise that he would guide her through a potential career change.

Once she got to his home, Constand said Cosby offered her three blue pills that he said would help her relax.

“I said, ‘Are they natural? Are they, like, a herbal remedy?'” Constand said. “And he said, ‘No, they’re your friends. Just put them down.'”

Constand said she then swallowed the pills because she trusted Cosby and his assertion that they would help her feel relaxed. When she testified in court, Constand said the pills made her slur her words and prevented her from walking. Cosby, she said, helped her to a couch and assaulted her.

“My mind is saying, ‘Move your hands. Kick. Can you do anything? I don’t want this. Why is this person doing this? And me not being able to react in any specific way,” Constand said. “So I was limp. I was a limp noodle.”

When she awoke, she said Cosby offered her breakfast. She drove home, took a shower, cried and went to work. Fearing no one would believe her, Constand didn’t tell anyone about the assault until a year later, when she told her mother.

The 80-year-old disgraced comedian is currently free on $1 million bail until his sentencing, where he could face up to 30 years in prison for three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby’s attorneys are planning to appeal the conviction.

Cosby also faces several civil lawsuits from at least 10 women, including three in California and seven in Massachusetts. The lawsuits accuse Cosby of sexual assault or defamation, for cases where Cosby accused the women who said he assaulted them of being liars. Cosby has denied all accusations against him.