Bill Cosby sued by Janice Dickinson and 8 other women accusing him of sexual assault in Nevada
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Nine women, including supermodel Janice Dickinson, have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault in a new Nevada lawsuit.
In a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Nevada and reviewed by EW, the plaintiffs all allege that the disgraced comedian "drugged or attempted to drug" them before sexually assaulting them in Nevada between 1979 and 1992.
The nine women — Dickinson, Lise-Lotte Lublin, Janice Baker Kinney, Lili Bernard, Heidi Thomas, Linda Kirkpatrick, Rebecca Cooper, Pam Joy Abeyta, and Angela Leslie — also claim that Cosby "used his enormous power, fame, and prestige, and claimed interest in helping them and/or their careers as a pretense to isolate and sexually assault them."
In the complaint, Dickinson — who previously accused Cosby of sexual assault in 2014, sued him for defamation in 2015, and testified against him in a 2018 trial — alleges that Cosby invited her to Lake Tahoe in or around 1982 to discuss a potential role on his television show. While having dinner together, Dickinson claims that Cosby offered her a pill after she complained of suffering menstrual cramps. After taking it, the suit says, she felt "woozy, dizzy, and disoriented."
Mark Makela/Getty Images Bill Cosby
Dickinson alleges that she "continued to feel the effects of the pill" when Cosby later invited her to "finish their conversation" in his suite, where he "vaginally and anally raped Ms. Dickinson with his penis." She maintains that she "told Cosby to stop" but he ignored her, and that her attempts to "fight him off" were thwarted because of the pill.
Bernard, who is also involved in a separate sexual assault lawsuit against Cosby in New York, alleges that Cosby similarly invited her to Nevada in or around the fall of 1990 for a meeting between her and the producers of A Different World, a spin-off of The Cosby Show. To celebrate her future success, Bernard claims that Cosby gave her "a beverage that he claimed was non-alcoholic sparkling cider" in his hotel suite, and she began to feel "dizzy, disoriented, and giddy" shortly after.
The actress, who had appeared as one of Cosby's patients on The Cosby Show, alleges that after consuming the drink she fell over and, unable to move, lost consciousness from the "effects of the beverage."
"When Ms. Bernard awoke, she was naked, lying on her back, and had difficulty moving. Cosby was naked by her feet," the complaint states. "Ms. Bernard told Cosby that she did not want to have sex and cried. Despite her pleas, Cosby raped her by penetrating her vagina with his penis."
Bernard alleges that, in order to silence her protests, "Cosby placed a pillow over her face, preventing Ms. Bernard from breathing," and did not remove it until the end of the sexual encounter.
Cosby has denied the allegations against him. His publicist Andrew Wyatt said Thursday in a statement to EW, "It is disappointing to see that these alleged distractors are able to monetize false allegations against Mr. Cosby. Even more disturbing, the Merson Law Firm (New York City) decided to incite this lynching of this American Citizen Mr. Cosby on the eve of Juneteenth. I am reminded of a photo a man hanging from a tree burning, as the plantation owner hosted a barbecue and party for the slaves as this Black Man was being roasted alive, without the sheer facts of any evidence, proof, truth or facts. The Merson Law Firm along with these alleged distractors are fueling false narratives for the potential of media fame and greed. Mr. Cosby continues to invoke his Constitutional Rights by saying, 'Not Guilty' and vehemently denying all of these alleged allegations waged against him. Thank you."
Jordan Merson, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement to EW, "We filed this lawsuit to get accountability and justice for these nine brave survivors."
The Nevada complaint came weeks after the state legislature passed a law that eliminated a two-year deadline for adults to file sexual abuse cases. It's the latest in a series of sexual assault lawsuits that have been filed against Cosby over the years. (He has consistently denied the allegations.)
In 2015, after more than 60 women came forward with sexual assault and misconducts allegations against him, Cosby was charged with assaulting Andrea Constand, a former director of operations for Temple University's women's basketball team. He was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, but released in 2021 after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction on due process grounds.
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