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It turns out that Bill Cosby, who's consistently denied allegations of sexual misconduct from dozens of women over five decades — many of whom say the 77-year-old comedian drugged them — once admitted buying sedatives to give to women he wanted to have sex with.
That revelation comes from 2005 court documents obtained by the Associated Press, in which Cosby said in a deposition that he procured Quaaludes for this purpose, and that he actually gave the drug to at least one woman.
The testimony, according to the AP's July 6 report, was part of a sexual assault lawsuit filed by a former employee of Temple University. While under oath, according to the documents, Cosby also admitted to giving the Temple employee Benadryl, an over-the-counter drug that causes drowsiness.
His lawyers fought the release of the documents, arguing that their contents would be embarrassing for Cosby, and the lawsuit was settled out of court in 2006.
But starting in 2014, another wave of women publicly accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. The dates of the alleged incidents span from 1965 to 2004, and in many cases the women's stories often share the same basic narrative: Cosby offers a woman a cup of coffee or an alcoholic beverage, after which he sexually assaults her while she is impaired or unconscious. Several of the women believe they were drugged.
The news that Cosby once actually admitted to giving drugs to a women he wanted to have sex with is significant because the scenarios he describes bear striking similarities to those in many of the allegations against him. Although he didn't go as far as admitting that he gave the drugs to the women against their will, or that he intended for them to become unconscious, it doesn't require much imagination to interpret his account as part of the pattern that's been alleged.
These are some of the key events in claims of sexual assault against Cosby, in the order in which they occurred:
1960s:
- Cosby drugs and assaults Joan Tarshis multiple times, according to her 2014 piece for Hollywood Elsewhere.
- Cosby grabs and kisses Carla Ferrigno, according to her 2014 statement to RumorFix.
- Cosby slips something into the drink of Kristina Ruehli before attempting to force her to perform oral sex, according to her 2014 statement to Philadelphia Magazine.
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Cosby drugs and rapes 21-year-old Cindra Ladd, according to her January 2015 essay for the Huffington Post.
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Cosby drugs and sexually assaults model Linda Brown, according to her 2015 statement at a press conference organized by attorney Gloria Allred.
1970s:
- Cosby rapes actress Louisa Mortiz in a Tonight Show green room, according to her 2014 statement to TMZ.
- Cosby drugs and sexually assaults Tamara Green, according to her 2005 Today show interview.
- Cosby attempts to drug Linda Joy Traitz, according to her 2014 Facebook post.
- Cosby drugs and rapes Therese Serignese, according to her 2014 statement to the Huffington Post.
- Cosby drugs and sexually assaults Playboy Playmate Victoria Valentino and her friend, according to Valentino's 2014 statement to the Washington Post.
- Cosby assaults 15-year-old Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion, according to her 2014 statement to the LA Times. This claim later provides the basis of her 2014 civil suit against Cosby, and his suit against her for extortion.
- Cosby drugs and rapes a woman named Patricia (who withheld her last name for privacy), one of the anonymous witnesses in a 2005 suit filed by Andrea Constand, according to her 2015 interview with BuzzFeed News.
1980s:
- Cosby drugs Beth Ferrier, according to her 2005 statement to the Philadelphia Daily News.
- Cosby drugs and rapes supermodel Janice Dickinson, according to her 2014 Entertainment Tonight interview.
- Cosby drugs Renita Chaney Hill, who appeared with Cosby on the children's program Picture Pages, on multiple occasions, and kisses and touches her on at least one occasion, according to Hill's 2014 interview with CBS Pittsburgh.
- Cosby drugs model Jewel Allison, places her hand on his penis, and kisses her, according to her 2014 statement to New York Daily News.
- Cosby drugs supermodel Beverly Johnson, according to her 2014 essay for Vanity Fair.
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A 21-year-old aspiring model identified only as "Lisa" accepts two drinks from Cosby, blacks out after he strokes her hair, and doesn't recall anything else until she wakes up at home two days later, according to her 2014 interview with Dr. Phil.
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Cosby drugs and sexually assaults model Lise-Lotte Lublin, according to her 2015 statement at a press conference organized by Gloria Allred.
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For the second time, Cosby drugs and rapes a woman named Patricia (who withheld her last name for privacy), one of the anonymous witnesses in Constand's 2005 suit, according to her 2015 interview with BuzzFeed News.
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Model Heidi Thomas wakes up in Cosby's bed to find him "forcing himself in [her] mouth," after accepting a glass of wine from the comedian that she says made her feel "foggy," according to her 2015 interview with CNN.
1990s:
- Cosby asks model Angela Leslie to act intoxicated and forces her to masturbate him, according to her 2014 statement to the Daily News.
2004:
- Cosby sexually assaults Andrea Constand, according to her 2005 lawsuit.
2005:
- Andrea Constand tells Canadian authorities that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 2004.
- Tamara Green says in a Today show interview that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in the 1970s.
- Authorities decline to bring criminal charges against Cosby based on Constand's claims.
- Andrea Constand files a civil complaint against Cosby. Thirteen women with similar stories serve as anonymous Jane Doe witnesses.
- Beth Ferrier, one of the Jane Does in the case, tells the Philadelphia Daily News that Cosby drugged her while they were in a relationship in the 1980s, and she woke up to find "my clothes were a mess. My bra was undone. My top was untucked."
- Cosby drugs and sexually assaults Barbara Bowman, according to her 2005 Philadelphia Magazine interview.
- According to court documents obtained by the Associated Press in 2015, Cosby testifies in a suit that will ultimately settle out of court that he bought Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with, and that he gave the plaintiff in the suit Benadryl before having sex with her.
2006:
- Barbara Bowman, another Jane Doe witness from Cosby's lawsuit, gives two interviews to Philadelphia Magazine alleging that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2005.
- Cosby settles Constand's civil suit on undisclosed terms.
2008:
- After accepting a drink from Cosby at the Playboy Mansion in 2008, 18-year-old Chloe Goins wakes up naked to find him licking her feet, with his pants around his ankles, according to her 2014 interview with the Daily Mail.
2014:
- Hannibal Buress brings up the rape allegations against Cosby in a comedy routine that goes viral.
- Bowman writes "Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?" which is published in the Washington Post.
- In an NPR interview, Cosby declines to respond to questions about the sexual assault allegations. His lawyer releases a statement saying Cosby "won't' dignify the allegations with a response."
- Joan Tarshis writes in a piece for Hollywood Elsewhere that Cosby drugged and assaulted her multiple times in 1969.
- Linda Joy Traitz writes in a Facebook post that Cosby tried to drug her in the 1970s and "wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."
- Supermodel Janice Dickinson says in an Entertainment Tonight interview that Cosby drugged and raped her in 1982.
- Carla Ferrigno tells RumorFix that Cosby grabbed and kissed her in 1967, when she was a teenager.
- Actress Louisa Mortiz tells TMZ that Cosby raped her in a Tonight Show green room in 1971.
- Therese Serignese, one of the 13 Jane Does in Constand's case, tells the Huffington Post that Cosby drugged and raped her in 1976.
- Cosby's lawyer releases a statement denying all of allegations and says "people are trying to come up with these wild stories in order to justify why they have waited 40 to 50 years to disclose these ridiculous allegations."
- Kristina Ruehli, one of the Jane Doe witnesses in Constand's lawsuit, tells Philadelphia Magazine that she believes Cosby slipped something into her drink before attempting to force her to perform oral sex in 1965.
- Renita Chaney Hill, who appeared with Cosby on the children's program Picture Pages, tells CBS Pittsburgh that she believes Cosby drugged her on more than one occasion in the 1980s, and that he kissed and touched her.
- Model Angela Leslie tells the Daily News that Cosby asked her to act intoxicated and forced her to masturbate him in 1992.
- Former Playmate Victoria Valentino tells the Washington Post that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her and her friend in 1970.
- Model Jewel Allison tells the New York Daily News that Cosby drugged her, placed her hand on his penis, and kissed her in the late 1980s.
- Judy Huth tells the LA Times that Cosby assaulted her at a party at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old. She files a civil suit against Cosby.
- At a Los Angeles press conference organized by Gloria Allred, Helen Hayes accuses Cosby of stalking her "like a predator" and grabbing her breast in 1973. A woman who went only by the name of "Chelan" said Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 1986.
- Cosby files a lawsuit against Huth, accusing her of extortion.
- Model Beverly Johnson writes in Vanity Fair that Cosby drugged her in the 1980s.
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A woman identified only as "Lisa" tells CBS's Dr. Phil that she met Cosby in 1988 when she was a 21-year-old aspiring model. She said that after accepting two drinks from Cosby, she remembers him stroking her hair, but she blacked out and doesn't recall anything else until she woke up at home two days later.
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Chloe Goins tells the Daily Mail that after accepting a drink from Cosby at the Playboy mansion in 2008, she woke up naked to him licking her feet with his pants around his ankles.
2015:
- Cindra Ladd, a Hollywood film executive and charity activist, writes in a January 27 essay for the Huffington Post that Cosby drugged and raped her in 1969, when she was 21 years old.
- At a Los Angeles press conference organized by attorney Gloria Allred, two women speak out against Cosby: Former model Linda Brown accuses him of drugging and sexually assaulting her at a Toronto hotel in 1969, when she was 20 years old. After she accepted a drink from him, "he flipped me over and sexually assaulted me," she says. At the same press conference, model Lise-Lotte Lublin accuses Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her at a Las Vegas hotel in 1989, when she was 23 years old. She says she remembers regaining consciousness at home after accepting a drink from Cosby.
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Former model Heidi Thomas tells CNN that in 1984, she woke up in Cosby's bed to find him "forcing himself in [her] mouth," after accepting a glass of wine from the comedian that she says made her feel "foggy."
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A woman named Patricia (who withheld her last name for privacy), one of the formerly anonymous witnesses in Constand's 2005 suit against Cosby, told BuzzFeed News that Cosby drugged and raped her in once 1978 (when she says woke up naked at Cosby's home after he asked her to "pretend to be an elegant queen with oatmeal dripping all over her face") and again in 1980 (when she says she woke up "very sick and knew that someone had penetrated me" after spending the evening with Cosby).
Vulture has maintained a thorough timeline of all of the allegations, as well as related developments, which was a huge help in compiling this list. Read it here.
