'Cosby Show' costar Phylicia Rashad celebrates after Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction was overturned: 'FINALLY!!!!'

• Phylicia Rashad tweeted "FINALLY" following former costar Bill Cosby's conviction being overturned.
• She has been a defender of Cosby for years.
• In a 2015 interview, she said of Cosby: "I love him."

"The Cosby Show" star Phylicia Rashad celebrated Bill Cosby's release from prison on Wednesday.

"FINALLY!!!!" Rashad, who played Clair Huxtable, the wife of Cosby's character on "The Cosby Show," wrote on Twitter after Cosby's sexual assault conviction was thrown out by Pennsylvania's Supreme Court.

"A terrible wrong is being righted - a miscarriage of justice is corrected!" she added.

Cosby was released from prison Wednesday after his conviction for sexual assault was thrown out by the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court, the Associated Press reported. The 83-year-old actor had served two years of his 10-year prison sentence for aggravated indecent assault after being convicted in the 2004 sexual assault of Andrea Constand.

Pennsylvania's highest court found that Cosby's rights were violated when he was told testimony in a civil lawsuit filed by Constand wouldn't be used to prosecute him, which it later was.

Hours after that tweet and after the actressed received backlash on social media, Rashad clarified her reaction.

"I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward," she wrote on Twitter. "My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing."

In 2015, Rashad, who starred on "The Cosby Show" for over a decade, spoke out for the first time about the sexual-assault allegations against Cosby, saying that she never saw any behavior that would make her think Cosby was capable of the accusations.

"I love him," she told Roger Friedman's Showbiz 411 at the time.

"What you're seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it's orchestrated," she continued. "I don't know why or who's doing it, but it's the legacy. And it's a legacy that is so important to the culture. This show represented America to the outside world. This was the American family. And now you're seeing it being destroyed. Why?"

A spokesperson for Cosby, Andrew Wyatt, told Insider Wednesday, "This is amazing news. We're excited and we want to thank the Pennsylvania Supreme Court."

Kevin R. Steele, the district attorney in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where Cosby was convicted, responded to the news by sending a message to Constand and the other women who came forward, praising their "bravery in coming forward and remaining steadfast throughout this long ordeal."

"My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads," Steele said on Wednesday.