Cosby accusers tell their story
The Cosby Show star has been embattled in recent months, as dozens of women have gone public with decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct and rape.
Now those 35 women have posed for a powerful photo shoot and essay, titled ‘Cosby: The Women, An Unwelcome Sisterhood’.
On the black-and-white cover, each woman sits in a chair, staring at the camera. Each reported victim also has an individual portrait and an accompanying article.
Dickinson’s essay recounted her previous statements, in which she alleged Cosby took advantage of her when she was 28 years old, in 1982, and, similarly, Johnson’s entry also recalled her encounter with Cosby, in which he allegedly drugged her during a meeting about her fledgling acting career.
Other women’s claims are also akin to Dickinson’s and Johnson’s, and some open up about how their reported assaults changed the course of their lives.
Writer Sammie Mays, who alleges Cosby attacked her in 1986, says: “When I see a Jell-O pudding, it comes flooding back. Bill Cosby, that encounter, that one time, played a major factor in the direction my life took, toward the dark side.”
Journalist Joan Tashis, who was one of the first to come forward with allegations, last year, hopes that after this controversy, Cosby’s place in show business history will be marred by his alleged actions.
She tells New York magazine: “I think his legacy is going to be similar to (American footballer) OJ’s (Simpson) legacy. When you hear OJ Simpson’s name, you don’t think, ‘Oh, great football player.’ That doesn’t come to mind first.
“I’m thinking it’s not going to be, ‘Oh, great comedian’.”
Cosby has denied all the rape allegations and has not been charged with any crime relating to the accusations.
