Former People Reporter Who Accused Donald Trump of Assault: 'We Cannot Be Silent Anymore'

The former People magazine writer who accused Donald Trump of forcing himself on her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005 said in a new interview that she shared her story because women “cannot be silent anymore.”

“Women are talking about this, and they need to,” Natasha Stoynoff, 51, said in an interview with People, published on Tuesday. “We cannot be silent anymore. I didn’t tell my story for politics, I told it for women.”

In a personal essay last week, Stoynoff said she remembered Trump “pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat” during a 2005 interview at his Mar-a-Lago estate, in Palm Beach, Fla. Stoynoff is one of several women in the past week who accused Trump of inappropriately touching or kissing them without consent. Trump has dismissed all the accusations as “outright lies.”

“It’s possible he just doesn’t remember it,” Stoynoff told People. “It was over 10 years ago and I assume I am one of many, many women.”

At rallies last week, Trump attacked the credibility and appearance of some of his accusers.

“Take a look, you take a look. Look at her, look at her words. You tell me, what you think. I don’t think so — I don’t think so,” Trump said about Stoynoff on Thursday. In a speech on Friday, Trump encouraged supporters to look her up on Facebook. “Check our her Facebook page, you’ll understand,” he said.

“I was obviously good-looking enough for him at the time to force-kiss me and insist that we were going to have an affair,” Stoynoff told People.

Write to Katie Reilly at Katie.Reilly@time.com.