Celebrity News December 12, 2014
Beverly Johnson’s First TV Interview About Shocking Bill Cosby Allegations
Supermodel Beverly Johnson followed up her Vanity Fair essay about Bill Cosby with an exclusive TV interview with ABC News.
In the sitdown with Lindsay Davis, Johnson recounts what happened the day she says Cosby drugged her at his brownstone in 1986.
She says her modeling agency called to tell her Cosby was interested in casting her in a role on the show. She met with him at the studio and then at his home.
Johnson explained that the first visit to his home was normal. She brought her daughter and they all had brunch together. When he asked her to return a second time to rehearse the role of a pregnant woman, she claims he drugged her.
“Bill said part of the exercise he wanted me to do was to act like you're drunk,” Johnson said. “And I thought, you know, the role was for a pregnant woman on the show, but I said 'Okay' and went along with that.”
Then he supposedly insisted on making her a special cup of coffee.
“I took a couple of sips of the cappuccino, and from the first sip and then from the second sip, I knew I had been drugged and I had been drugged really good,” she told ABC News.
“The drug was very powerful. Something I had never, ever taken before, and I mean, I was woozy, my speech was slurred... it kept getting stronger as time went on… I knew that I was in danger, I knew that this was not a recreational drug of any kind… I was really afraid, I was afraid for my life.”
She says Cosby placed his hands on her waist, and that's when she went into “survival mode,” calling him every name in the book.
“He was getting angry, he was pissed, and he, you know, grabbed me by my arm. And he was just dragging me down the brownstone stairs, and a taxi stopped, and he threw me in the taxi,” Johnson said.
She added that she doesn't believe she was raped, but she also doesn't remember arriving home.
Johnson said she considered going to authorities, but worried it would destroy her career. She also worried about hurting Cosby's wife Camille.
She explained, “This one social gathering where Camille was, and she's so striking and beautiful, and I walked up to her and she embraced me with this hug that was so endearing like you would hug your own daughter, and I decided I wasn't going to push the issue any further because of her.”
So far, more than 20 women have come forward accusing Cosby, 77, of sexual assault.
While representatives for Cosby have not responded to Johnson's claims, Cosby's lawyer, Marty Singer, released a statement last month regarding the "alleged decades-old events" against his client, saying they are "unsubstantiated stories” and asking the media to stop the "vilification of Mr. Cosby."
Cosby settled a civil suit with an alleged victim in November, 2006.