Source: Creative Services / InteractiveOne
Two women who both allege that Russell Simmons sexually assaulted them have gone public with their side of the story on national television.
According to reports, actress Natashia Williams-Blanch said she didn’t plan to go public about her experience with Simmons, but felt she had to when she saw him downplaying the allegations citing his “spirituality” to add doubt to the accusers’ stories.
Williams-Blanch said:
“That was the main impetus to come forward because I followed this story when it emerged, and I wasn’t actually going to say anything at all. I was going to stay on the sidelines and just kinda watch this unraveling,” explained Williams-Blanch. “He said, ‘How can I be a rapist when I’m a yogi and a vegan?’…There’s a lot of good actions, good meaning, and intentions but they come by what he’s done in the darkness.”
There are 13 women total who claim they’ve been assaulted by Simmons. Watch below as Sherri Hines from the 80’s rap group Mercedes Ladies explains her encounter with the former head of Def-Jam.
