Roy Moore's first accuser explains why she waited years to come forward with her story

Screenshot/The Today Show

Leigh Corfman

• Leigh Corfman, who alleges US Senate candidate Roy Moore pursued her sexually when she was 14, said that her story was never a secret among her family and friends. 
• Corfman said she was fearful of the impact going public with her allegations might have on her children, but decided to come forward when The Washington Post approached her and found others with similar stories. 

Leigh Corfman, who alleges Republican US Senate candidate Roy Moore pursued her sexually when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old district attorney, described her experience with Moore and her decision to go public with her allegations during an interview on NBC's "Today" show on Monday. 

Corfman, who made her story public in a Washington Post report earlier this month, said that she feels "a weight has been lifted" since coming forward, and she denied unfounded allegations that she was paid by The Post to tell her story. 

While some critics have argued that the timing of Corfman's public accusal - weeks before Alabama's special election - is suspect, Corfman said that her nearly 40-year-old story was never a secret. 

Immediately after Moore allegedly drove 14-year-old Corfman to his home, undressed her, and touched her in her underwear, Corfman told two close friends.

"My family knew. Family friends knew. My friends knew," Corfman told NBC's Savannah Guthrie.  

And after the incident, every time Moore camp up in conversation, Corfman said she would "rail" against him and rehash what he allegedly did to her.

In the early 2000s, after Moore was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court, Corfman considered making her allegations public. Corfman told The Post and the "Today" show she drove to the courthouse and nearly gathered enough courage to confront Moore at his workplace.

"I wanted to walk into his office and say, 'Hey, remember me? You need to knock this stuff off. I need to go public,'" Corfman recalled. But she refrained, she said, because she was a single parent of small children. 

"I felt guilty," Corfman told Guthrie. "I felt like I was the one that was to blame. It was decades before I was able to let that go." 

Several years later, Corfman again considered making her allegations public. But after talking with her children, who were in elementary and junior high school at the time, she decided the risk of harming their relationships with friends and community members was too great. 

"I had to tell my kids," she said. "We decided together that we wouldn't do it at that time."

Corfman said that when she was approached by Post reporters, who had heard from other sources about her allegations, she said she would go on the record if The Post was able to find other alleged victims of Moore's who would also speak out. 

The Post found three other women with similar stories who went on the record. Since then, five other woman, including one who says Moore forcibly kissed and groped her when she was 16, have come forward. 

Others who doubt Corfman's allegations claim they are politically motivated. Corfman denies this, telling Guthrie that she has "voted as a Republican for years and years and years," and that "this isn't political," "it's personal." 

"It's very close to my heart," Corfman said. "I've lived with it for a long time."

Corfman said she's been heartened by the "amazing" response she's received from other victims of sexual abuse. 

"I've had a lot of people that have come out and have said that because of my courage that they're able to do the same," she said.

Watch the interview below: