The woman behind accusations that hip hop mogul Russell Simmons raped her is speaking out.
Sherri Hines appeared on NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today to share the disturbing details of her alleged rape. Hines says she was a member of an all-female hip hop group in the 80s, when Simmons asked her to visit his office. She says she believed she was going for a business meeting, but things took a dark turn when Simmons threw her on the couch and allegedly raped her. Hines says she was 17 or 18 at the time.
“When I got there he told me to sit down and he sat down next to me. It was weird because it happened so fast, it was like next thing I know I’m being pinned down and like, ‘No! Get off of me. What are you doing?’ I felt embarrassed, I felt used, worthless,” she said. “The way I felt at the time was … I can’t believe this man just violated me like I was nothing.”
Another Simmons accuser, Natashia Williams-Blach, also joined Hines to detail her own experience. Williams-Black says she was 18 when Simmons tried to force her to perform oral sex on him after a yoga class in Los Angeles. “If I could see that 18-year-old girl today, of course, I would assure her that it’s not her fault,” she said.
Hines and Williams-Blach are just two of the 12 women who have accused Simmons of sexual assault and harassment. Writer Jenny Lumet accused Simmons of sexual assault in a piece for The Hollywood Reporter and Simmons has since stepped down from his companies.
Simmons recently took to Instagram to deny the allegations, using the hashtag #NotMe and writing, “Today, I begin to properly defend myself…I will prove without any doubt that I am innocent of all rape charges.”
The NYPD is currently investigating the allegations and Hines says she has been contacted by police, but has not yet been interview.