In an essay for Vanity Fair, model Beverly Johnson recounted the time Bill Cosby allegedly drugged her. The 62-year-old claims that the incident happened in the mid-1980s after she was invited to appear on "The Cosby Show."
Over the past few months, several women have come forward with claims that they were allegedly drugged and/or raped by the comedian. Johnson explained that she considered going public with her story several times but always stopped herself.
"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,'" she wrote.
According to Johnson, she said an agent contacted her and offered her a small role on "The Cosby Show." She was to play a pregnant woman sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office where Cosby's character worked.
"It was a small part with one or two speaking lines at most, but I wanted in," Johnson wrote. "I was in the midst of an ugly custody battle for my only child. I needed a big break badly and appearing on 'The Cosby Show' seemed like an excellent way of getting Hollywood's attention."
Johnson said she was invited to watch a taping of the show and afterwards met the cast and then hung out with Cosby in his office "to talk a bit about the hell I'd been through in my marriage."
"He seemed genuinely interested in guiding me to the next level," she said. "I was on cloud nine."
Eventually, Johnson received an invite to the comedian's house.
"Looking back, that first invite from Cosby to his home seems like part of a perfectly laid out plan, a way to make me feel secure with him at all times," Johnson wrote. "It worked like a charm."
She said the two would talk and work on her acting skills but one night Cosby offered her a cappuccino. After repeatedly telling him she didn't want coffee Johnson "took a few sips... just to appease him."
"Now let me explain this: I was a top model during the 70s, a period when drugs flowed at parties and photo shoots like bottled water at a health spa. I'd had my fun and experimented with my fair share of mood enhancers," she wrote. "I knew by the second sip of the drink Cosby had given me that I'd been drugged - and drugged good."
"As I felt my body go completely limp, my brain switched into automatic-survival mode," she continued. "That meant making sure Cosby understood that I knew what was happening at that very moment."
Because Johnson wouldn't cooperate she said Cosby became angry, dragged her out his house and put her in a taxi.
"[Cosby] slammed the door behind me without ever saying a word," Johnson wrote. "I somehow managed to tell the driver my address... before blacking out."
To read Johnson's full essay for The Hollywood Reporter, click here.
