Linda Redgrave said she never really wanted to conceal her identity.
Redgrave is the first witness in the Jian Ghomeshi trial, who filed a police report claiming the former "Q" host yanked her hair and punched her in the side of the head.
She is the witness who sent Ghomeshi a photo of herself in a bikini in an attempt to get answers from him.
Redgrave told Chatelaine she wanted to reveal her identity lifted the day Ghomeshi was acquitted on charges of sexual assault and choking, but was only granted that right last week.
“I never really wanted to hide. I only hid because I was afraid in the very beginning,” she said in an interview with the magazine.
Linda Christina Redgrave is witness No. 1 in Jian Ghomeshi's trial. (Photo: Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Redgrave said her experience on the witness stand has pushed her to try to help others.
The day before Justice William Horkins delivered his verdict, she launched ComingForward.ca, a website devoted to helping sexual assault survivors find legal resources before going to police or to court.
She said wanted to the site to be live before Horkins' dropped his ruling to make herself accountable to empowering others.
"It's not because I want sympathy and it's not because I want everyone to [know], 'Hey, I'm Witness Number One,' she told CBC News. "It's because I'm holding myself to my intention of helping others."
“As much as I’m scared to death, it still feels like the right thing to do,” she told Chatelaine.
"The accused gets arrested, they get read their rights," she said in an interview with CBC. "But a witness doesn't. They don't know their rights."
“As much as I’m scared to death, it still feels like the right thing to do."
— Linda Redgrave
She told Global News she believed her testimony to police was "a green light for investigation," and not something that could be used against her in court.
“If I were to do it again, I would be getting legal advice first and then take my statement forward,” prepared with “exactly what I needed it to say,” she said.
Redgrave told CBC she's already been approached with offers to help her push for change in the legal system for sex assault survivors.
"But I can't do that in a trench coat and glasses," she said.
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