Beverly Johnson is the latest woman to speak out against Bill Cosby. The former supermodel, who was the first African-American woman to appear on the cover of American Vogue, wrote an essay for Vanity Fair that alleges Cosby drugged her at his home in the mid-1980s. Johnson claims Cosby invited her to his brownstone in New York City under the pretense that she read for a part on “The Cosby Show.” After dinner, Cosby allegedly pressured her to drink a cappuccino, despite her protests that drinking coffee so late in the day would keep her up at night. “It’s nuts, I know, but it felt oddly inappropriate…
Beverly Johnson is the latest woman to speak out against Bill Cosby.
The former supermodel, who was the first African-American woman to appear on the cover of American Vogue, wrote an essay for Vanity Fair that alleges Cosby drugged her at his home in the mid-1980s.
Johnson claims Cosby invited her to his brownstone in New York City under the pretense that she read for a part on “The Cosby Show.” After dinner, Cosby allegedly pressured her to drink a cappuccino, despite her protests that drinking coffee so late in the day would keep her up at night.
“It’s nuts, I know, but it felt oddly inappropriate arguing with Bill Cosby so I took a few sips of the coffee just to appease him,” Johnson wrote, adding that by the second sip of the cappuccino she knew she had been “drugged — and “drugged good.”
A brief argument ensued, and Johnson wrote she wasn’t exactly sure what happened next.
“I recall his seething anger at my tirade and then him grabbing me by my left arm hard and yanking all 110 pounds of me down a bunch of stairs as my high heels clicked and clacked on every step,” Johnson wrote.
According to Johnson, Cosby brusquely ushered her out the front door and hailed a taxi for the supermodel.
To read Beverly Johnson’s essay, head over to Vanity Fair.
While Johnson did not expressly accuse the comedian of sexual assault, she is among the many women to have publicly disclosed similar stories of alleged wrongdoing by Cosby.
“I had to use my voice as a sister, mother, and grandmother, and as a woman who knows that, according to the C.D.C., nearly one in five women has been sexually assaulted at some time in her life, and that women of color face an even higher attack rate,” Johnson wrote.
In recent weeks, NBC axed the pilot it had been developing with Cosby, Netflix announced it would postpone the launch of his comedy special and TV Land pulled all reruns of “The Cosby Show” from its schedule.
Additionally, Cosby’s alma mater, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, asked him to step down as an honorary co-chairman of its $300 million fundraising campaign, and the Navy rescinded the title of Honorary Chief Petty Officer.
The Huffington Post has requested comment from Bill Cosby’s rep and attorney; this post will be updated if and when a response is received.
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