It’s a scandal that has been going on for months now as more and more women, now over 50 in total, have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault.
On Thursday, A&E aired a special called Cosby: The Women Speak, in which 13 of Cosby’s accusers come forward to tell their stories.
“He’s given us all a purpose; a sisterhood purpose,” Lise-Lotte Lublin says during the special. “We’re going to make a change in the world. We’ve already started.”
Here are their stories (video below):
Joan Tarshis was an aspiring comedy writer in 1969 when Cosby met her in a lunch room and poured her a drink. She became groggy, but when Cosby began to take off her pants, she claimed to have a vaginal infection. He then forced oral sex on her instead. Later, Cosby invited her to see one of her shows performed and sent a limo for her. Thinking that she would be okay in a theater full of people, she got in, but she blacked out in the limo and woke up naked next to Cosby the next morning.
In 1969, Victoria Valentino was grieving the death of her 6-year-old son in an accidental drowning. She says that Cosby handed her a pill that he claimed would help her “feel better,” but when she took it, she could hardly keep her head up. She was then taken to a small office, where Cosby forced sex on her.
Louisa Mortiz was about to make a guest appearance on the “Tonight Show” when Cosby burst into her dressing room. She did not cry out, because she was getting ready to go on a huge television show, but instead attempted to push him away. Cosby made her perform oral sex.
In 1977, when Sarita Butterfield was 22, she appeared in the November issue of Playboy, and Cosby, who liked her photo, invited her to Christmas Eve dinner with his family. When she was alone in the guest house, Cosby grabbed her hair and began to grope her while she resisted.
Charlotte Fox was an extra in Cosby’s “Uptown Saturday Night” when Cosby invited the entire cast to a party at the Playboy Mansion. Although she does not remember what she ate or drank, she remembered feeling ill and then waking up in bed with Cosby.
A flight attendant at the time, 20-year-old “Elizabeth” (an assumed name) was working for American Airlines in 1976 when she tried to get an autograph from Cosby. Instead, he invited her to dinner, where he pressured her into drinking sake despite the fact that she did not drink or do drugs. She ended up in his hotel room, where she was assaulted, and recalled that she apologized to the driver on the way home for getting sick in the car, to which the driver responded, “You aren’t the first.”
When Heidi Thomas was 24, she was told that Cosby was interested in mentoring her and arrived at a ranch house for a cold read in which she was supposed to play an intoxicated person. She said that she only remembered one sip and that the next few days were a blur but that she does remember mental snapshots of an assault.
Beth Ferrier had been involved with Cosby for two years in a consensual affair, but by 1986, they had broken it off. She met up with Cosby in Denver, and the comedian made her favorite drink, after which point she woke up in a dark alley in the back of her car with her clothing unbuttoned.
Cosby offered to mentor Barbara Bowman in 1985, and over time, he drugged and assaulted her multiple times. The final time, she fought so hard he threw her off the bed and told her that he never wanted to hear from or see her again.
Beverly Johnson was invited to Cosby’s home to read for a part, where he offered her a cappuccino that was drugged. When he put a hand around her waist, she called him a “motherf***er,” and he put her in a cab and sent her home. She was not raped but said that she knew what kind of man she had just seen.
Lise-Lotte Lublin met Cosby in 1989 for acting coaching when he offered her a drink to help deliver her lines. She blacked out and does not remember what happened but now believes she was the victim of an assault.
Eden Tirl appeared on “The Cosby Show” when she was 23. While she was there, she was singled out on set and called to Cosby’s dressing room, where she was harassed.
A&E has also provided snippets from the special.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LPKJYvn8V0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgVX4tkrwaQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtzC432-Bc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fy_zWkQZmU