SPEAKING OUT

Pioneer Black Model: Cosby Drugged Me

Blamed herself for years.

In a Vanity Fair piece published Thursday, trailblazing black model Beverly Johnson accuses Bill Cosby of drugging her several decades ago. Johnson recalls being called for a small part on The Cosby Show and being invited to his home to read for the part, then being invited back a few days later to read again. On the second visit, Cosby allegedly insisted that Johnson try coffee from his espresso machine, but by the second sip, Johnson says, she knew she’d been drugged. “My head became woozy, my speech became slurred, and the room began to spin nonstop,” she writes. Johnson says she became angry and launching into a “tirade,” but lost control of her body. She recalls Cosby “grabbing me by my left arm hard and yanking all 110 pounds of me down a bunch of stairs as my high heels click and clacked on every step.” She claims Cosby then shoved her inside a taxi cab to get rid of her. “For a long time I thought it was something that only happened to me, and that I was somehow responsible,” she writes. “So I kept my secret to myself, believing this truth needed to remain in the darkness. But the last four weeks have changed everything, as so many women have shared similar stories, of which the press have belatedly taken heed.”