ST. LOUIS - Some might say it's just a he-said-she-said kind of story. Only she has never said publicly what her side of the story is, until now.
“I'm in the middle of the most difficult, crazy fight that I didn't ask to be a part of,” says the woman known only in court documents and House transcripts as either “K.S.” or “Witness 1.”
“And I feel like I'm this easy punching bag. Yet I haven't thrown any punches.”
The most talked-about woman in the state asked that her name not be used for this story and her face not be shown. She hopes her children can keep any anonymity they still have.
She had an affair with Governor Eric Greitens that he admitted but denied any criminal wrongdoing. The woman also told a special House committee in investigating the Governor details of a sexual act that she says happened while she was crying on his floor in his house.
Details she said she stands by.
“Yes, I do stand by them. They were hard to talk about. Really, really, really hard to talk about, but I absolutely stand by it,” said K.S.
5 On Your Side asked K.S. if she felt the Governor coerced her into something she did not want to do.
“I mean, ultimately yes,” she said as her voice cracked. “Looking back, it's so hard. I see myself as so vulnerable.”
As for why she continued the affair with Greitens if the first encounter felt coerced she said “I just wanted to feel better. I felt so awful about myself. I wanted to forget whatever happened. I didn't want to believe that actually happened, and so, if he really likes me then, ‘Yeah, yeah, it didn't happen like that.'"
It's a story she said she never wanted to tell. But when her ex-husband came forward with a secret recording of her admitting to the affair to him, she said she felt she had no choice but to cooperate when prosecutors pressed charges.
“The second [Greitens] denied the things that were the most hurtful, the most difficult for me to now have to relive, I just realized now I have this decision. The only ethical thing I felt I could do was tell the truth,” she recalled.
When asked if anyone has paid her for her story, she said, “No. Not at all. Not in any way shape or form. No payments.”
When asked if any political operative talked her into coming forward she said, “Not at all.”
“I didn't want this. I wasn't out to get anyone. I really was just trying to live my life,” she said.
She said the governor's defense team used her statement from a deposition out of context comment in to imply she had dreamed the now infamous encounter in the basement.
“I definitely did not dream this up. Period.”
But she did use the word “dream” in at least one of her testimonies. She explained that was at the end of an approximately nine-hour interview when she said she was trying to explain why she had not testified about specifically seeing the governor’s phone that she said he used to take a photo of her while she was tied up, blindfolded, and stripped of most of the clothes she was wearing.
“This memory of seeing a phone was so separate so I was trying to say, 'No, I haven't testified to seeing a phone,' and what I was trying to say is the memory I have of seeing the phone isn't strong enough to testify to,” she said of her statements.
It's not only the attacks from the defense team that she said hurt, but also the way this story came out. Her story. Told by her ex without her consent.
“I have no clue with this money thing. I don’t know who it was and what they wanted to accomplish. But they used me. They used me. Not the person who got paid. They used me,” she said, referencing the $100,000 or more her ex-husband is said to have received to help with legal bills.
His attorney Al Watkins tells 5 On Your Side all of that money has gone to his law firm and Watkins says the ex-husband still owes him money.
“And the defense team representing the Governor, they want to do their job as well, but the easiest thing to do then is attack me,” she said.
When Governor Greitens walked out of the courthouse after the felony invasion of privacy charge against him was dropped, he offered some apologies – but not to K.S.
She, however, does have one for his wife.
“Oh, I would absolutely apologize. I shouldn't have been involved with him. I should not have gone into her home. I know that,” she said, fighting back tears.
As for what she would like to see happen next, she said she hasn’t given much thought to whether Greitens could be charged again for actions in their relationship.
“I have no ill intentions other than not being made to be a liar. I’m not lying," she said. "This is hard, it was hard at that time and it's hard to talk about now. I'm not lying. That's it. I want to move on. I want to heal.”
In addition to going to school full-time she also cuts hair for a living.
One of her clients is Democratic State Rep. Stacey Newman. And there are accusations that she was somehow behind this.
KS said she's known her for about 14 years, and she only asked Newman to try to stop this story from coming out.
A spokesperson for Gov. Greitens told 5 On Your Side, “This case was dismissed because there was no evidence to support the allegations. Everyone involved has said they desire to move on.”
Attorney Al Watkins forwarded the following statement.
“KS deserves the support and respect of all who abhor the victimization of the vulnerable by men of power and influence. Her fortitude is admirable and worthy of recognition. That which she has been compelled to endure is otherworldly.”
