NEWSWEEK has published interviews from two of the 13 women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit back in 2004. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2006.
Barbara Bowman, a 46-year-old artist, and Tamara Green, a former trial attorney, are both speaking out about being sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby.
Trust us, what they’re saying is truly shocking.
Check out a few excerpts below.
Barbara Bowman’s story:
How did you know Bill Cosby?
I was a 17-year-old model and up-and-coming actress in Denver, Colorado. My agent knew Bill. I was told that he wanted to scout some new talent — if we were lucky, we would be groomed to go to New York and get more solid training so we could move up the ladder, maybe eventually get to audition for the Cosby Show.
When was the first time you felt uncomfortable around him?
None of the abuse or drugging happened until I was 18… But on our very first meeting together, which occurred in the conference room at a nightclub in Denver, he led me through an acting exercise. First, he told me to go to the bathroom and wet my hair down. Then, he told me to sit in a chair, close my eyes, and act out a monologue as if I was really intoxicated. And he was touching my neck and stroking my hair.
I felt absolutely terrified. I was so new to the business and this was my first experience with a celebrity of such power, so I thought, “Wow, maybe this is what you are supposed to do. This is about learning how to be vulnerable in a scene, and if anyone would know best, it would be Bill Cosby.” I didn’t want to disappoint him or for him to think I couldn’t follow directions. So I gave it my all.
What else can you remember?
I was assaulted a number of times from age 18 to 19. Cosby would warn me before out-of-town trips, “You aren’t going to fight me this time, are you?”
Once in Reno, Nevada, he flew me out for a celebrity ski classic. He got me in a hotel room and fed me a lot of alcohol. He pinned me down in his suite on the couch, and he had me masturbate him. He really intimidated me, and I panicked.
From them on, I would be praying and begging to God that it was in my imagination, it didn’t happen. I’d sit on the plane and say “Please God, please God, this is really about my career–I’m lucky.” And then I’d get there and he would just intimidate me and make me so scared…
The first time I was drugged for sure was in New York, when he invited me to dinner at his apartment. There was a chef, a butler; we had dinner, it was all fine. I had one glass of wine and then I blacked out. I woke up throwing up in the toilet, and he was standing over me, pulling my hair out of my face. I was wearing a white t-shirt that wasn’t mine, and he was in a white robe.
I think the final time I was assaulted by him was in Atlantic City. He took me there for a show and got me very drunk. Later, [the hotel] lost my luggage, so I was on the phone with the concierge and [Bill] had an absolute fit that I was on the phone, and went ballistic. The next morning, he summoned me into his room and started berating me and calling me names and yelling at me, telling me I had embarrassed him, and he threw me on the bed and blocked me with his elbow and got on top of me and started taking his pants off and I was screaming and crying and begging him to leave me alone and I fought so hard and I was screaming so loud that he got mad and threw me aside and got away from me, and that was it.
I was ditched. I was dropped like a hot potato by my agent. I was thrown out of my housing. They pulled the plug on me and said I had embarrassed [Cosby].
Cosby said “I better never ever hear your name or see your face ever again.”
Tamara Green’s story. (She says her confession was a “career-ender”):
How did you know Bill Cosby?
I met him when I was a 19-year-old model in the 1970s. I was really pretty and I thought the world was my oyster. I thought, “Of course people will invite me places.” I was friends with a plastic surgeon who knew [Cosby], and we would all go to the racetrack together. I was in charge of driving the limo so they could all get loaded and I’d drive them home.
What happened?
He asked me to help him raise capital for a club he wanted to start. One day, I called him to cancel a meeting because I was feeling really sick, and he said, “Why don’t you come over to this restaurant I’m at, you’ll feel better if you have lunch.” I sat down, and he gave me what he said was two pills of [an over-the-counter cold medicine]. I swallowed them, and 20 minutes later I felt terrific; 30 minutes later, I was face-down in my soup. He volunteered to take me home. And then, because I was so ill, he volunteered to undress me and put me to bed. I started fighting him — I took a lamp and broke a window. He finally left. When I woke up, I saw that he left two 100-dollar bills on the table next to my front door. I was so sincerely and deeply infuriated that, even through the drugs…. I was crazed. I wanted to rip his neck off.
The next day, I went to go visit my brother, who was in the terminal ward at a children’s hospital. Cosby, smart man that he is, had been to the hospital to give presents to the kids. By the time I got to the hospital, my brother was glowing that the great Bill Cosby had given him a portable radio.
ForeverMeah says... I'm sure Bill is somewhere like:
0 comments:
Post a Comment