Supermodel Beverly Johnson claims Bill Cosby drugged her in 1980s

Bill Cosby is facing a new allegation of drugging from former supermodel Beverly Johnson, best known for being the first black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue in 1974.


In a tell-all essay published Thursday in Vanity Fair, Johnson details an encounter with Cosby in his New York brownstone home in the mid-1980s.


Johnson explains that she needed a big break at the time, and that Cosby wanted her to audition for a part on 'The Cosby Show' playing a pregnant woman.


After two tapings and a visit to Cosby's home with her daughter, Johnson said Cosby invited her back again to read for the part. She said after having a light meal with Cosby, he brought her upstairs to a living area featuring a massive bar and a huge brass espresso machine.



Cosby asked her to show him whether she could play a drunk character, and insisted she have a drink from the machine, despite her protests that she didn't like to drink coffee late in the day.


'I knew by the second sip of the drink Cosby had given me that I'd been drugged -- and drugged good,' Johnson wrote.


Here's an excerpt from her account of what allegedly happened next:


'My head became woozy, my speech became slurred, and the room began to spin nonstop. Cosby motioned for me to come over to him as though we were really about to act out the scene. He put his hands around my waist, and I managed to put my hand on his shoulder in order to steady myself.

'As I felt my body go completely limp, my brain switched into automatic-survival mode. That meant making sure Cosby understood that I knew exactly what was happening at that very moment.'


Johnson said she angrily cursed him several times, throwing Cosby into a rage. He then grabbed her by the arm, dragged 'all 110 pounds' of Johnson down the stairs and threw her into a cab. She managed to tell the driver her address, but the next thing she remembers is waking up confused the next day.


Johnson said she tried calling Cosby on a number he had given her, but his wife answered from the bedroom, and she didn't try calling him again.


Since then, Johnson has gone on to star on a reality show on Oprah Winfrey's network, and today she owns a hair extension company, according to The Washington Post. The New York Times describes her as having broken barriers in the fashion business, and calls her 'one of the most prominent' of about two dozen women who have leveled accusations against Cosby.


Despite her success, Johnson explained that she didn't reveal Cosby's alleged misconduct before because she thought it only happened to her, and that she was somehow responsible. She also thought that doing so at the time would be damaging to black Americans:


'He was funny, smart, and even elegant--all those wonderful things many white Americans didn't associate with people of color. In fact, as I thought of going public with what follows, a voice in my head kept whispering, 'Black men have enough enemies out there already, they certainly don't need someone like you, an African American with a familiar face and a famous name, fanning the flames.''

The last four weeks, however, have 'changed everything,' Johnson wrote, referring to the numerous women who have publicly shared accounts of Cosby allegedly drugging and, in some cases, raping them.


Just last week, Cosby sought to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Judy Huth, who claimed Cosby forced her to perform a sex act when she was 15 years old in 1974.


On Wednesday, another of Cosby's accusers, Tamara Green, filed a defamation suit against the comedian claiming that Cosby's representatives branded her as a liar and ruined her reputation, The Washington Post reported.


'I want my name restored,' Green said. 'This will give me and other women the chance to go to a forum where we will speak our stories and tell our truth.'


Cosby's legal representatives, including lawyer Martin Singer, have not responded to Vanity Fair's request for comment on Johnson's claims. They have, however, denied claims made by other women, calling them 'increasingly ridiculous.'


'Over and over again, we have refuted these new unsubstantiated stories with documentary evidence, only to have a new uncorroborated story crop up out of the woodwork,' Singer said in a statement. 'When will it end? It is long past time for this media vilification of Mr. Cosby to stop.'


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