The woman in Jay-Z’s $20 million defamation lawsuit, who accused him of sexual assault and later dropped the case, is pleading to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety and mental health.
In legal documents obtained by Complex, the woman, who has been identified as a Jane Doe, joined with her doctor and others to beg the judge to keep her identity a secret because of the psychological harm that would come from revealing it.
“From a psychiatric standpoint, the forced disclosure of her identity in this context would have catastrophic consequences for her mental health,” said Doe’s psychiatrist, Dr. John T. Olsen. “Such public exposure would destabilize her current mental health recovery.”
“The impact would likely be severe, with a high risk of exacerbation of her psychiatric symptoms, deterioration of her functioning, and a profound negative effect on her overall prognosis,” Olsen added.
In the documents, the woman alleged that she’d been made to feel “intimidated and terrified at her own home after being cornered on her porch by investigators.” She also believes that her family, including her two children, will face much worse harassment if her identity were to be revealed.
The judge in the case has not yet ruled on the woman's request to remain anonymous as Jay's case proceeds.
Last year, the woman filed a lawsuit against Jay-Z, alleging that he and Diddy raped her at a party after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed in February.
In the aftermath of the dismissal, the woman stuck by her story, claiming in a declaration that same month that she dropped the case in large part due to "fear of intimidation and retaliation from Jay-Z and/or his associates or fans."
"I stand by my claims" in the suit, she continued.
After the lawsuit's dismissal, Jay-Z and Roc Nation issued a statement about the matter.
“Today is a victory. The frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed," he said. "This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere. The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims. I would not wish this experience on anyone. The trauma that my wife, my children, my loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed."
In March, Jay-Z filed a defamation lawsuit against the woman that also named her attorneys Tony Buzbee and David Fortney.
"Doe has now voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story. She has admitted that Mr. Carter did not assault her; and that indeed it was Buzbee himself … who pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr. Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday," read Carter's defamation lawsuit.