During a pretrial deposition last week, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson admitted that one of his accusers ended their massage therapy session in tears.
Ashley Solis — the first of 22 different women that have accused Watson of harassment or sexual assault — was the focus of a recent pretrial deposition. Solis claims that the NFL star purposely touched her with his penis during a March 30, 2020 massage session at her house, which led to her feeling scared and crying.
Tony Buzbee, the lawyer for the 22 accusers, told USA Today on Tuesday that Deshaun Watson admitted under oath that he did see Solis in tears at the end of their session. Confirming at least part of the claims she has made against the 26-year-old. During the deposition Watson says he did not understand why she was crying, however, he followed up the encounter by sending Solis a text message apologizing for “feeling uncomfortable.”
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Deshaun Watson admits seeing therapist teary-eyed after massage session
“Sorry about you feeling uncomfortable,” the text from Watson read. “Never were the intentions. Lmk if you want to work in the future. My apologies.”
In a transcript of the deposition obtained by USA Today, the former Houston Texans franchise quarterback is asked about the purpose of sending the following up text despite claiming he was unaware of the reasons for Solis’ apparent discomfort.
“Yes, because she was teary-eyed,” Watson replied as the reason for the text. “And I was trying to figure out what was going on. So, I assumed that she was uncomfortable in whatever reason. And we talked about working in the future. And so, I said, `We can work in the future. Just let me know.’ And then I sent my apologies as whatever reason she was teary-eyed for.”
Watson is set to have more depositions in June. However, the pending lawsuits will not go to trial until after February 2023, following an agreement reached by the attorneys of the plaintiffs and Watson.
Watson was not arrested nor formally charged in relation to the allegations. Two different grand juries in Texas declined to indict him on criminal charges. Officials from the NFL are set to meet with the QB next week regarding their own investigations into the various claims.
