In the fall of 2019, Mary readied for an afternoon massage appointment with a client she had not worked with before. She was told in advance that he preferred to be covered with a towel, instead of the standard sheets, so she pulled out the largest towel she had. He asked for a private entry, so she brought him up to her office through the building’s back door. What she couldn’t prepare for, though, was Deshaun Watson’s conduct during their 2.5-hour session; she says it was unlike anything she’s experienced from any other client she has treated.
As of Monday, 19 civil suits against Watson, filed by women from three different states, are publicly available. They allege that the Texans quarterback engaged in some form of sexual misconduct against them during a massage appointment, including exposing himself, purposefully touching them with his penis, ejaculating on them or, in two of the complaints, forcing them to put their mouths on his penis. Watson has asserted he’s “never treated any woman with anything other than the utmost respect”; his attorney, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement last week, “I believe that any allegation that Deshaun forced a woman to commit a sexual act is completely false.” Hardin’s statement included a claim that they have proof of a previous extortion attempt by one of the plaintiffs who said Watson coerced her into putting her mouth on his penis. Watson’s camp has suggested that the torrent of allegations stem from publicity and recruitment efforts by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Tony Buzbee.
Mary, though, is not one of Buzbee’s plaintiffs; initiated contact with her before learning she had worked with Watson, a session that predates the timelines detailed in any of the lawsuits filed. She is a licensed massage therapist who owns her own business in Houston (SI agreed to Mary’s request for anonymity to protect her privacy and her business; we are referring to her by an alias). She told SI she is sharing a public testimony, her account of Watson’s behavior, with the hope of preventing this from happening to any other professionals in her industry. In an effort to corroborate Mary’s account, SI reviewed text and social media messages, and interviewed a family member Mary spoke to in the immediate aftermath of the session—that family member’s account was consistent with Mary’s. In response to an email detailing Mary’s account, Hardin said in a phone call, “We are just not in any position to comment in any way right now on another anonymous story or complaint. I just think it’s unfair to ask us to.”
As Hardin and Buzbee—the latter through frequent updates on Instagram and a press conference on March 19—have traded accusations publicly, Mary remains unsure as to whether she’ll pursue legal action. She contacted Buzbee’s firm after the first complaints were filed, but says she felt pressured to sign a contract for them to represent her and declined. She is working with U.A. Lewis, a civil rights attorney, to explore her options.
“The one thing I keep thinking about is, he’s about to get traded to another place,” Mary says. “What if he goes to Atlanta or California or anywhere else? He would have a whole new community of massage therapists to target.”
Moreover, Watson’s blanket denial of ever treating women with disrespect helped spur Mary to speak up and lend her voice as a witness.
“More than anything, the fact that he’s denying all the allegations makes it more of a reason for us to use our voice and say what we have to say,” she says.
Mary also wants the information she is sharing to spur Watson to get help, and to be used in a way that helps establish a higher respect level for the massage therapy profession, which she and many of her colleagues entered into with the goal of helping people.
“I just want a genuine apology, for us and our community, for putting us in these situations where we don't know what to do,” she says. “There are so many people that are against us, saying, ‘Why would he do that? He has no reason to do that. He has a beautiful girlfriend; he has this, this, this and this.’ All of those things are true, but fame doesn't create character.”
