(CNN) Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman responded to allegations of physical abuse against him by saying he engaged in consensual "role-playing" and did not assault anyone, but one of the reporters who broke the story Monday night says he doesn't buy that defense.

"I just want to relate the message of one of these women -- and it was a shared sentiment among this group -- that this was not role-playing, that this was not 'Fifty Shades of Grey.' It wasn't in a gray area at all," Ronan Farrow told CNN's Alisyn Camerota Tuesday morning on "New Day."

"This was activity that happened, in many cases, fully clothed, outside of a sexual context, during arguments," Farrow said. "In one case, a woman wasn't even in a relationship at all with him, Alisyn."

Farrow, who with The New Yorker's Jane Mayer co-wrote the story centered on accounts from four accusers, said he had examined photos of the mark left when Schneiderman allegedly struck "a prominent attorney who had worked with him" after she rebuffed his advances.

"It was upsetting to see, so the allegation that this was role-playing, you know, is not consistent with what these women said," Farrow said.