The woman accusing Jay-Z of rape has come forward to address the inconsistencies in her allegations.
“You should always fight for what happened to you,” the unidentified woman, who has gone by Jane Doe in legal documents, said in an interview with NBC News published on Friday, December 13. “You should always advocate for yourself and be a voice for yourself. You should never let what somebody else did ruin or run your life. I just hope I can give others the strength to come forward like I came forward.”
In a civil lawsuit filed against Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) and Sean “Diddy” Combs on December 8, Doe claimed that she was invited to an MTV Music Video Awards afterparty in 2000 by a driver who claimed he worked for Diddy. The woman, who was 13 at the time of the alleged incident, claimed she was given a drink that she believed was drugged. (The lawsuit was initially filed on November 18 listing just Diddy and was refiled the following month by attorney Tony Buzbee to include Jay-Z.)
Doe claimed that she went to find an empty room to rest in when Diddy, Jay-Z and an unnamed female celebrity came in. Doe alleged that Diddy “threw her on the bed” and Jay-Z removed her clothes and held her down as he raped her, while both Diddy and the female star watched.
“Jay-Z comes over, holds me down. I start trying to push away,” she claimed to NBC News on Friday. “He puts his hand over my mouth, tells me to stop it, to cut the shit and and then he rapes me like he had me overpowered.”
Jay-Z and Diddy, both 55, have vehemently denied the allegations.
“These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?” Jay-Z said in a statement to Us Weekly after news broke of the lawsuit. “These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.” (Jay-Z’s statement was also shared via Roc Nation’s official Instagram account.)
After the alleged incident, Doe fled the home and went to a nearby gas station to call her father to pick her up.
“I was upset, and the person at the gas station could tell that I was obviously upset, and she let me use the phone. I called my dad because he was the only person I [trusted] at that time. I told him I messed up and I needed a ride home,” she recalled to the outlet. “We rode home in silence. He didn’t ask me what happened. He didn’t ask me what I did or where I was.”
In addition to Jay-Z and Diddy claiming the incident never happened, Doe’s father came forward to NBC News on Thursday, December 12, saying he did not recall picking up his daughter that evening at the gas station, which was about five hours away from their home. Doe, for her part, is standing by her claims.
“There are a lot of things, and this is stuff that we argue about constantly, something he said or did back in New York around that time period he just doesn’t remember,” she said on Friday. “It actually causes a lot of fights sometimes in the household.”
Doe also claimed that she spoke with Joel and Benji Madden during the afterparty, but the Good Charlotte band members stated that they did not attend since they were on tour at that time. Doe explained that the other faces at the event weren’t as clear.
“Honestly, what is the clearest is what happened to me and [the] route that I took to what happened to me. Not all of the faces there are as clear,” she said. “So I have made some mistakes. I may have made a mistake in identifying.”
There have also been discrepancies in Doe’s description of the house where the incident allegedly took place. Doe’s attorney and his team have been attempting to confirm the location.
Doe shared that before the lawsuit, she never told anyone about the alleged assault.
“Even if somebody found out, who was gonna believe me?” she told NBC News. “I mean, it was the word of two celebrities against mine.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Jay-Z for comment.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).