Rape storyteller wanted out

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The woman whose harrowing account of being raped at the University of Virginia was the centerpiece of a now-discredited Rolling Stone magazine article said that she felt pressured to participate in the story and became scared in the weeks leading up to its publication when she realized it may be too late to back out.

A video deposition of the woman identified in the article only as “Jackie” was played for jurors Monday in the defamation trial against Rolling Stone magazine for the 2014 story “A Rape on Campus” by Sabrina Rubin Erdely. U.Va. administrator Nicole Eramo is seeking $7.5 million from the magazine, claiming it cast her as the story’s “chief villain.” A police investigation later found no evidence to back up Jackie’s claims.

Jackie said in the video that when she initially agreed to talk to Erdely, she was under the impression that the article was going to be about sexual assault advocacy, not her rape. Jackie said she didn’t even realize her comments during her first conversation with Erdely would be published.

“I was 20 years old and had no idea there