Cristiano Ronaldo 'embarrassed' over rape allegations
The case has since been dropped, but the accusation itself impacted the Juventus player greatly, something he has been speaking about.
Kathryn Mayorga claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo raped her in a hotel room in Las Vegas 10 years ago, with German publication Der Spiegel reporting the story last October.
Cristiano "embarrassed" over rape accusations
Ronaldo repeatedly denied the accusation and the Clark County District Attorney's Office announced in July that the Juventus striker would not face charges as they could not "be proven beyond a reasonable doubt".
According to Der Spiegel, Mayorga first made a complaint of sexual assault in 2009 and subsequently reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo. It was claimed by the magazine she was paid $375,000 as part of a privacy agreement, preventing her from going public with the allegations.
The Portuguese, speaking to Piers Morgan in an interview to be aired on ITV on Tuesday, has spoken for the first time about the impact the case has had on his family life.
"They play with your dignity. It's hard," said Ronaldo.
"You have a girlfriend, you have a family, you have kids. When they play with your honesty, it's bad, it's hard.
"I remember one day I was at home in the living room with my girlfriend watching the television, to see the news and they talk about Cristiano Ronaldo and this and that, I listened to my kids coming down the stairs and I changed the channel because I was embarrassed.
"I felt embarrassed, I just changed the channel for Cristiano Jr not to see that they speak badly about his father, about a very bad case. It makes me feel so bad, to be honest."
Emotional father-son moment for Cristiano
Also being reported in the interview is an emotional moment when Piers Morgan showed the Juve star some footage of his father, José Dinis Aveiro, who died at the age of 52 because of alcoholism, expressing his pride about his son's early achievements. At this point Cristiano was visibly overcome with emotion.
“I didn't expect to cry. I have never seen this video. It's amazing," he responded.
José Dinis Aveiro died in 2005 due to liver failure. The footage had been recorded before the 2004 European Championship in Portugal, when Cristiano was just 19 years old and was emerging in England, at Manchester United. Cristiano's father was not able to witness his son's incredible sporting achievements, with Manchester United, with Real Madrid, Juventus, and Portugal. Another disappointment for the player is that his father never got to know his grandchildren.