♪ and i remember the rainy afternoons ♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, the bill cosby bombshell. the legendary comedian now charged in court. this after more than 50 women have come forward accusing cosby of sexual assault, drug or rape. what was it about this case that's different? now released on bail what this means for the embattled tv star. welcome to the victorian life. at first it was fashion. then she was hooked. >> sometimes little girls will ask me if i'm a princess. >> now this couple lives in a whole other world. >> the heart of the victorian home -- >> why they're facing backlash for their very old school lifestyle. i asked my dentist if an electric toothbrush was going to clean better than a manual. he said sure, but together just any one, get one inspired by

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good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight, bill cosby charged for the very first time. more than 50 women have come forward accusing the legendary comedian. today he was brought into court facing a criminal charge linked to one alleged case of indecent assault from 2004. what the other alleged victims are saying now, what the judge said to cosby. ryan smith was inside the courthouse during his arraignment.

>> reporter: it was a day some of them thought would never come. >> i never expected to see this. >> when i went to the lawyer in '89, he laughed me out of the office. >> mr. cosby, how do you respond to the charges? >> reporter: many thought no one would ever believe them. >> that's bill costby, you can't tell, nobody will believe you. >> he's dr. huxtable, after all, america's favorite dad. >> reporter: but today -- >> we are here to announce today charges that have just been filed against william henry cosby. >> reporter: once america's favorite dad, bill cosby. accused by over 50 women of sexual assault, drugging, or rape. faced the very first criminal charge levied against him in a pennsylvania courthouse. one felony count of aggravated indecent assault. for his accusers the first glimpse of his mugshot overwhelmingly emotional. >> i just never really thought i'd see the day. just built up over this whole year and wondering if we were

ever going to see any justice. >> reporter: a criminal charge is a huge turning point. to this point we've been talking about civil cases, the court of public opinion. now the possibility he could serve realtime. >> reporter: today's charges stemming from the kais case of a woman named andrea constan, 21 years old when she says cosby assaulted her in 2004 in the athletic department at temple university, his alma mater. this is cosby's home, the place it's said he brought her. >> on the evening in question, mr. cosby urged her to take pills that he provided to her and to drink wine. the effect of which rendered her unable to move, respond to his advances, and he committed aggravated indecent assault upon her. >> reporter: it was january 2004 when he allegedly invited her to his suburban philadelphia home. the criminal complaint says he

gave her three blue pills he allegedly claimed were herbal saying they would make her feel good and take the edge off, calling them three friends to help her relax. asked her to taste the wine. within minutes she claimed she began experiencing blurry vision and difficulty speaking. cosby then allegedly telling her to lie down, according to the criminal complaint, and assaulted her while she remained frozen and paralyzed. criminal charges were not filed at the time. constan later filed a civil suit against cosby. 13 jane does with their own allegations came forward offering to testify on her behalf. >> i said, that's enough. i will not sit in silence any longer. >> here it is, it's real. andrea's real, i'm real. >> reporter: but the case ended in a confidential settlement without cosby admitting any wrongdoing. it wasn't until july of this year that parts of the deposition from that civil suit were unsealed. >> this civil deposition is

critical. because finally prosecutors have bill cosby in his own words talking about this incident. >> reporter: in the deposition, cosby described the encounter as consensual, saying the pills he gave her were benadryl. but he did admit to obtaining drugs to provide to young women. adding that he would offer quaaludes to women the same as a person would say, have a drink. cosby denies he ever gave drugs to women without their consent. it was these depositions that led prosecutors to now file criminal charges. >> reopening this case was our duty as law enforcement officers with a sworn obligation to uphold our constitutions and to uphold the law. >> reporter: as scores of women continued to come forward earlier this year, cosby denied all wrongdoing and refused to answer allegations directly in an exclusive interview with abc's linsey davis in may.

>> i have been in this business 52 years. and i will -- i've never seen anything like this. and reality is -- the situation. and i can't speak. >> reporter: but tonight his attorneys have released a statement saying, filed 12 years after the alleged incident, we intend to mount a vigorous defense against this unjustified charge and we expect that mr. cosby will be exonerated by a court of law. cosby was released on $1 million bail after this mugshot was taken, he was fingerprinted, had to surrender his passport, and was ordered not to contact constan. meanwhile, shock and relief for some of his alleged victims. >> i don't think any of us anticipated that this would happen. i mean, it's just phenomenal. it's phenomenal. >> reporter: like constan, valentino claims cosby drugged

her with pills. >> the common thread always seems to be that the victim needs to be unconscious. or certainly incapable of resisting. >> reporter: victoria valentino and a dozen other accusers spoke out at a&e's "cosby: the women speak" produced by abc's lincoln square productions. valentino says she and a friend dined with cosby in 1969 and he knew she'd lost her 6-year-old son in a drowning accident. >> he knew that my child had died. and i was very depressed, you know? and he leaned across and he put a pill next to my wine glass. he said, here, take this, this will make you feel better. and i thought, great. and i really never felt in any danger from him at all. so i took the pill. i couldn't keep my head up. and i was starting to feel nauseated. and i said, i want to go home. >> reporter: but instead of taking the two women home, valentino claims cosby drove them to a small office.

>> and then all of a sudden i realized everything was very, very silent. so i opened my eyes and i looked around. and he got up and he came over to me. and at that point extracted his pound of flesh. i could hardly walk by that time. i couldn't talk. he unzipped his fly. had me perform oral sex. then he stood me up, turned me backwards, and did me doggie style, okay? and he walked out. >> reporter: cosby has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing. she didn't report it at the time, she says because she was humiliated. but today she says she and others feel vindicated. >> we are elated. and so grateful that the legal system is standing up. >> reporter: gloria allred, who represents 29 of the more than 50 women who have come forward, also speaking out today. >> seeing him criminally charged and having to face a trial is

the best christmas present that they have ever received. >> reporter: until now, cosby has faced only a deluge of civil lawsuits. most of his accusers say the crimes occurred outside of the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution and just weeks ago cosby firing back, accusing seven women who are suing him for defamation of making false accusations of sexual assault for financial gain. >> we are now taking steps in order to right a wrong. and yes, returning and restoring mr. cosby's legacy, reputation, good name. >> just a couple of weeks ago it seem the that bill cosby was finally fighting back. counter suing some of the women who made these allegations. but a criminal charge against him changes everything. when you're battling in civil cases and claims and counter claims it's nothing compared to the possibility having to serve

time behind bars. >> reporter: today's charges perhaps the most pointed in what has been a fall from grace for the beloved father on "the cosby show." the man once known as america's dad vinita nair. >> as he left this district courthouse, a different man, visibly frail, seemingly broken, so far removed from the energetic comic that once brought laughter to millions. >> now he's accused of the ultimate violation of an almost parental-like relationship. a mentoring relationship. >> reporter: he's scheduled to appear in court again on january 14th. >> stand and up tell the truth. finally face your consequences like a man. we're standing in truth. you stand in truth. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm ryan smith in elkins park, pennsylvania. next, this couple gave up more than modern conveniences to

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crispin might have been born in the wrong century. >> sometimes little girls will ask me if i'm a princess, which is very sweet. >> reporter: wearing fashion statements that would make a hipster envious. dandy hats, corseted garb, a chatelaine that functions as a victorian version of a swiss army knife. >> i do everything by hand. a woman in the 1880s would have considered me old-fashioned because they had sewing machines. i've got girlfriend hot do yoga, i sew. >> reporter: this isn't an act for the cameras. for over six years the crispins have lived out of the victorian era, a time period they say they're deeply fascinates with. >> it's one thing to have an intellectual interest in something. but to live in it day in, date out. why make that decision? >> i spent a year in japan teaching english and that made me realize that studying things from a book is one thing. actually being in that place and being surrounded by the people and interacting with the things that they use every day, that's something else. >> reporter: the victorian era is everything between 1837 to

1901. sarah and gabriel choose to focus on the last decades of that time period when telephones, electric light bulbs, and cars were first introduced. >> i'm trying to make it work -- >> reporter: walking through their home in washington state, you're struck by the antique appliances. a wood-fired stove set. >> the heart of the victorian home, especially in the winter. >> reporter: first patented in 1879. >> it's actually a lot more controllable than an electric stove. >> reporter: a literal icebox. >> so the meat gets put right on the ice. >> this is a miller vestal -- >> reporter: an oil lamp. >> when we first light it we're going to go around the wick, then put this on. and turn this down just a little bit there we go. >> reporter: there you listen you won't hear the sounds of a washing machine or dryer, no microwave or mixer preparing meals. just the tick-tock of a clock. which made one particular sound -- [ phone ringing ]

>> that sounds like a modern phone. >> it is. >> reporter: seemed especially out of place. >> we didn't think to turn it off because it just hardly ever rings. >> do you own cell phones? >> no. >> never have, either of us, actually. >> reporter: gabriel has a master's in library science but works in a bike shop. sarah works at home as a writer. while they have simply they have to embrace some technology in order to survive in 2015. >> we don't completely shun computers. sarah uses them for research. but i don't want to be controlled and i don't want to have my life defined by computers and technology. >> reporter: sarah started writing her book "this victorian life" by hand with an eyedropper fountain pen. >> you wrote an entire book in script? >> yes. >> you submitted this to your editor? >> i had to type it up. i actually make more work for myself this way. there's no editor in the world who will accept a handwritten manuscript anymore. even though i writ them this way

i have to type them up to turn them in. >> reporter: while it may be an extreme case of people throwing back to old times they're not the only ones. you'll find plenty of examples even in pop culture of people adopting 19th century trends to fit their modern needs. celebrities like kylie jenner and khloe kardashians have cherry picked from the victorian era wearing corset-like waist trainers. >> what's the point of wearing the corset? >> it holds the back up straight. it makes the waist smaller so it accentuates the different sexual characteristics between men and women. >> does that feel subjugating? >> no, it's rather empowering. >> reporter: these tokens of the past caused uproar online when sarah wrote about her lifestyle. reaction on the internet went viral, some on twitter mocking her, websites joining in to point out that women didn't even have the right to vote back then. >> what's so big about a vote? >> the lifeline of a democracy.

>> not necessarily. >> perk started with a lot less voters than they've eventually become. conception of who should vote has evolved over time. again, it's something that we don't necessarily see as being the most important thing in the world. >> but you do agree that women should vote? >> well, i think that voting in general is overrated for everyone. >> reporter: though slavery was abolished in the u.s. during that time period, some modern readers have noted minorities were not entitled to the same privileges of white people during that time. >> in the victorian era, someone who looked like you wouldn't be friends with someone who looked like me. >> actually, here in this part of the country, we certainly would have. if we were in boston, we certainly would have. whereas there are certain parts of the world now where we might not be. even 2015. >> reporter: the crispins say they aren't trying to force their lifestyle on anyone, just embracing the overlooked knowledge from a time in history that was seemingly simpler. >> it's the difference between reading about a different country in a book and going

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