Most people haven’t heard of Kristina Ruehli – and that’s just how Bill Cosby wanted it.
In December of 1965, Kristina Ruehli accused Bill Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in his Beverly Hills home, having invited her to his home under the guise of a pool party. She was just 22 at the time.
Ruehli claims she told her boyfriend about the incident, and also claimed that she later told her daughter about the alleged encounter in the 1980s.
Besides her husband and daughter, Kristina Ruehli told no one about her abusive encounter with Bill Cosby for nearly 40 years.
When she was finally able to break her silence, she spoke publicly about the incident in 2005, when she came forward in the Andrea Constand case as Jane Doe #12.
She also recounted the incident in detail for Philadelphia Magazine in 2014, after nine other women publicly shared their experiences.
At the time, Ruehli worked as a secretary for talent agency Artists Agency Corp. Ruehli remembers Cosby entering the offices and approaching the secretaries to invite them to a pool party at his home.
“When I arrived at his house — it was probably around 10 p.m. — I was surprised that there was no one else there. He was very well liked at the agency, and so I expected others to be there. But no one else arrived…
He said that his wife was out of town, but he brought me in and into one bedroom where there was an infant child in the crib. He actually showed me a very young baby. The child was fast asleep. He seemed so proud of it. He wanted to show me his little baby. I don’t know where the nanny or maid was, but someone had to be there, because he had come from Hollywood Palace.
We went out into the kitchen. He proceeded to pour some bourbon. I drank a bourbon-and-7 at the time. I could really hold my liquor… And I had a couple of those — just two — and then I just don’t remember much.”
Ruehli’s story is similar to the accounts of nearly 60 other women, who accuse Cosby of sexual assault.
She continued her story: “It was all foggy, and I woke up in the bed. I found myself on the bed, and he had his shirt off. He had unzipped his pants. I was just coming to.
He was attempting to force me into oral sex. He had his hand on my head. He had his [expletive] out, and he had my head pushed close enough to it — I just remember looking at his stomach hair. And the hair on his chest. I had never seen a Black man naked before.
And it never went past that. I immediately came to and was immediately very sick. I pushed myself away and ran to the bathroom and threw up. I was feeling really ill. And I never got sick like that from alcohol, at least not that small of an amount.
Once I threw up — it was five in the morning by now, I think — I left the bathroom and he wasn’t there. I don’t know where he went. But I left right away. I was able to drive myself home. I didn’t live that far away.”
Thankfully, Kristina Ruehli was able to get to her car and bring herself home.
Later that morning at her office, she was met with a disturbing reaction by her coworkers, when she attempted to get answers to what had happened.
“I showed up at work at 9 a.m., actually. I asked two of my girlfriends in the office why no one came to the house. I more or less got the sort of tip of a head, shake of a shoulder … It was sort of a body language communication, but nothing verbal. Sort of a looking away. Sometimes you know something but don’t want to say anything.”
It wasn’t until 2014 that Ruehli would come forward with this disturbing story, after public interest in the Bill Cosby scandal grew.
Kristina Ruehli is just one of 60 known victims, each with their own harrowing story to tell.
Merson Law PLLC represents victims of sexual abuse seeking to get justice for their suffering. If you have been similarly abused, do not hesitate to contact our offices today.
