...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.”
Mary makes clear that Watson did not touch her, nor did he force her into conducting any sexual acts. But she says he did engage in behavior that was both inappropriate and unlike any other interaction she’s had with any of her more than 1,000 clients—including other professional athletes—in her several years working as a massage therapist...
She used the oversize towel to drape him until about 45 minutes into the session, when she says he tossed the towel onto the floor, saying it was too itchy. Watson was lying face up on the table, naked and totally uncovered, something Mary says has never happened during any of her other massage appointments. “I was in shock,” Mary says. She proceeded with the massage without the towel, knowing that her payment was coming from another therapist. “I trusted the therapist that referred him to me that nothing weird was going to happen.”
After 90 minutes, Watson asked to extend the session for another hour. She continued to work only on his quads, inner thighs and abdomen—the specific areas he requested. Watson developed an erection, she says, and also began clenching and slowly “thrusting the air.” Mary at first wondered whether his movements were a pain response to her deep-tissue work, so she asked whether he was O.K. She says he replied that he was fine and stopped thrusting for a short time. Mary learned during her massage training that erections can develop as a relaxation response. She recalls situations in the past when that’s happened to a client while they dozed off; they usually become embarrassed when they realize it and start talking about something random to divert their thoughts. If that doesn’t work, she’ll sometimes switch to a more painful massage technique. But Watson’s behavior indicated to her that “his intentions were different.” She adds, “There was one point that he did tell me that I could move [his penis] if I needed to, and I just completely ignored him.” She took this as a suggestion to touch his exposed penis.
Watson stayed on his back for the entire session. While massaging his abdomen, Mary says she noticed “different fluids on his stomach.” She remembers questioning whether it was really pre-ejaculate, telling herself, This can’t be what I think it is. In the final five to 10 minutes of the session, Mary says Watson began thrusting his pelvis in the air again, this time much faster. “At that point, I recognized it for what it was,” Mary says.