The seemingly endless list of women accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault grew by three on Wednesday.
A former IMG model, an ex-waitress and a woman who aspired to model for Playboy magazine appeared at a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles. Pamela Abeyta, Sharon Van Ert and Lisa Christie detailed at length how they were allegedly victimized by the embattled comedian.
Van Ert recalled that she met Cosby in 1976 while working as a waitress at a jazz club in Redondo Beach, California. She said Cosby was a regular and one night he offered to walk her to her car.
“I am certain that I had a couple of drinks. I was feeling giddy and excited and happy. Mr. Cosby was very nice and of course I didn’t suspect anything,” Van Ert explained. But she said she started to feel “unusually dizzy” and Cosby got in the passenger side of the car with her after expressing concerns that she might not be “able to drive home.”
“After a while, Mr. Cosby started getting fresh. He was touching me and rubbing my leg. The next thing I remember was waking up in my car, my head hanging down from the seat,” she recalled. “I knew I was drugged because I threw up.
“When I got home I realized my panties were missing and I never found them. I believe that Mr. Cosby took them after he assaulted me. Afterwards I contacted the [club] owner’s wife and told her what
Abeyta, who aspired to appear in Playboy, said a mutual friend sent her to meet with Cosby’s producer at his Southern California home in 1979 because she knew Cosby was a friend of Hugh Hefner. The producer booked her on the next flight to Las Vegas to meet with Cosby, she said.
“We arrived at the Las Vegas Hilton just as
Abeyta said Cosby gave her “$200 to gamble.” The next day, the comedian bought her $2,500 in new clothes and they went to dinner.
“I don’t remember leaving the dinner show,” she said through tears. “When I came to, I was lying in
“When I came to again, I saw two other naked people in the room by the bed,” she continued. “Bill was sitting on the side of the bed and I blacked out again.”
Former model Lisa Christie said she was 18 when she met Cosby. She left the IMG modeling agency because her reps weren’t getting her enough work. Her new agent introduced her to Cosby, in an effort to help her secure acting roles.
“I began to go on Jell-O commercials with him and he placed me as an extra on ‘The Cosby Show’ a couple of times,” Christie said. She then recalled that Cosby gave her private acting lessons at his brownstone. “I even met him at a jazz club in the Village where he had me dress to look like Lisa Bonet. He said that he wanted me to replace her on the ‘Cosby Show.’”
As Christie explained, Cosby acted as her mentor and encouraged her to go to college. She claimed nothing ever happened at that time and they continued to stay in touch. Two years later, in 1989, the TV legend flew her to Chicago and they met at the Ambassador East Hotel.
Cosby suggested they do an acting exercise and asked her to kiss him “like a boyfriend,” she said. She pushed him away, but he reportedly told her, “I’ll give you the biggest orgasm you’ve ever had!”
Christie claims Cosby got upset when she turned him down and he told her, “You’re never going to make it in this business unless you sleep with me.” She then fired back, “Shame on you Mr. Father Figure of America.”
In recent months, dozens of women have come forward to accuse the 78-year-old star of rape and sexual assault. In the wake of the accusations, Cosby has suffered several career setbacks. His attorney, Martin Singer, has denied accusations made against the comedian in the past.
Wednesday’s news conference came nine days before a deposition that Cosby has been ordered to give in a lawsuit brought by another Allred client.