Andrea Constand's The Case Against Cosby is a study of trauma, healing and finding justice
CBC
WARNING: This article contains references to sexual abuse and may affect those who have experienced abuse or know someone affected by it.
Andrea Constand is already used to media scrutiny. The Canadian athlete-turned- author — and now registered massage therapist — has seen and heard her name in the news for years.
While initially that was for her achievements as both an amateur and professional basketball player, for the past five years it's been for something else: the only woman to see her allegations of sexual assault against American comedian Bill Cosby lead to a criminal trial.
"I was really fortunate to have other women come forward in their own courage, in their own bravery," Constand said in a recent interview with CBC News. "And I stepped up to the plate for them — my approach was to do it for them, to be in service and get justice where they were not able to get justice."
Constand has returned to the spotlight once again, but not by focusing on Cosby — who has consistently maintained his innocence. Instead, her documentary series The Case Against Cosby (which premiered on CBC Gem on Sunday) focuses more on others who have accused him, as well as her work as an advocate for sexual assault survivors.
"It's not an easy story to tell. My story is uncomfortable for many people, painful for many people," she said. "But I think we've done a great job."
Constand was one of more than 60 women to allege that Cosby, who is now 85, assaulted them over the course of his six-decade career, and in 2018, he was convicted on charges of drugging and assaulting Constand in 2004.
But in 2021, Cosby's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors were bound by a previous district attorney's agreement not to charge him over Constand's allegations.
Constand's documentary, which is partly based on her book The Moment: Standing Up to Bill Cosby, Speaking Up for Women and made alongside Canadian director Karen Wookey, is not the first documentary about the controversy. The miniseries We Need to Talk About Cosby looked back at the comedian.
Their project documents the process as a small number of women who have accused the comedian gathered for a retreat with physician and trauma specialist Gabor Maté. Constand said one of the main goals of the documentary was not to rehash their allegations but to show how they each grapple with trauma.
"It was just incredible. It was just profound," she said of the experience. "And it will be something that I will never forget in my life, that weekend with the women."
Cosby's team did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News about the documentary. In an earlier comment to The Canadian Press about The Case Against Cosby, his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, stated that "it seems to start with a false premise, namely that Mr. Cosby was convicted."
"Mr. Cosby does not stand convicted of any crime against any accuser, including Ms. Constand," she said.
Wookey said Constand's journey was part of the reason she wanted to take on the project — though far from the only one.
