Former supermodel Beverly Johnson has joined the ever-growing list of women to publicly accuse Bill Cosby of drugging them. In a new essay for Vanity Fair, Johnson writes that the TV icon “drugged me with the intention of doing God knows what.”
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In the piece, Johnson, best known for being the first black model to appear on the cover of American Vogue, does not explicitly accuse Cosby of sexual assault, as several other women, including fellow model Janice Dickinson, have done over the past decade, but she writes that after she auditioned for a guest role on The Cosby Show in the mid-1980s, he invited her to his home and offered her an espresso.
Next, she writes, “ I knew by the second sip of the drink Cosby had given me that I’d been drugged — and drugged good,” and she recalls that he put his arms around her in way that gave her the impression that he expected her to “bend to his will.”
Here's an excerpt from Vanity Fair:
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. I knew by the second sip of the drink Cosby had given me that I'd been drugged-and drugged good.
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.
"You are a motherfucker aren't you?"
Johnson also wrote that she kept the secret of what happened to her for years, worrying about the impact her story about Cosby could have on Americans’ images of black men.
But the recent wave of sexual assault allegations against him, including by her friend former supermodel Janice Dickinson, inspired her to speak out — especially when she considered that he’d always been in a position of power, unlike the men whose plight she was most concerned about.
As I wrestled with the idea of telling my story of the day Bill Cosby drugged me with the intention of doing God knows what, the faces of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and countless other brown and black men took residence in my mind ...
Finally, I reached the conclusion that the current attack on African American men has absolutely nothing to do at all with Bill Cosby. He brought this on himself when he decided he had the right to have his way with who knows how many women over the last four decades. If anything, Cosby is distinguished from the majority of black men in this country because he could depend on the powers that be for support and protection.
Cosby did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment on Johnson’s allegations, but he and his attorneys have denied all sexual assault allegations against him.
