ABC/Fred Lee(NEW YORK) — Fashion icon Beverly Johnson said Tuesday she wasn’t “surprised” when she heard that in court documents Bill Cosby, who she says drugged her in 1986, had admitted to giving a woman a Quaalude and getting the drugs with the idea that he would give them to women he wanted to have sex with.
“I had a number of reactions,” Johnson said. “I was numb. …I didn’t realize that I was going to get this onslaught of people wanting to interview me again and so naturally, you know, you want to get underneath the covers and put the covers over your head — but you can’t do that and I won’t do that. …I want my voice to be heard. …I’m telling my truth.”
In newly released 2005 court filings that were part of a civil case, Cosby is quoted as saying in a deposition that he’d obtained seven prescriptions for Quaaludes and answered “yes” when asked whether he’d gotten them with the intent of giving them to women with whom he wanted to have sex.
In the filings, which The Associated Press pushed to have released, Cosby admitted to giving the drug to one woman whom he met in Las Vegas. The documents cite a deposition that Cosby gave in the case on Sept. 27 and 28, 2005, and quotes from it.
The sexual abuse lawsuit was settled in 2006 for undisclosed terms, according to the AP.
In December 2014, Johnson told ABC News that she’d been invited to meet Cosby in 1986 for a possible part on The Cosby Show, first at the studio and then at his brownstone. She said during the first visit, she brought her daughter along. The group had brunch and nothing out of the ordinary occurred. But Johnson said that when she was invited back another time, this time alone, to rehearse for a particular role, Cosby insisted on making her his special coffee.
“I was offered a cup of cappuccino. I took a sip. I felt woozy. And I took a second sip and I knew I had been drugged,” she said Tuesday. “I in no way asked for any drugs, or wanted to be drugged, or wanted to be unconscious at any point. So that’s my story.”
In her earlier interview with ABC News, Johnson said that upon realizing she’d been drugged, she peppered Cosby with questions and called him names. Johnson said that she doesn’t believe Cosby sexually assaulted or raped her and that she doesn’t remember arriving home.
Cosby has never been charged with a crime in connection to the accusations of drugging and sexual assault, and his lawyers have dismissed the allegations.
“The only reason Mr. Cosby settled was because it would have been embarrassing in those days to put all those women on the stand and his family had no clue,” a source close to Cosby said in a statement to ABC News. “That would have been very hurtful.”
On Tuesday, Johnson said she was “very happy” for the women who had accused Cosby of drugging and sexual assault and who were now feeling vindicated and validated.
“The truth always comes to light,” she said. “The truth, you can’t hide it. …I don’t revel in someone’s misery. I have the most empathy for the victims. …Perhaps, maybe, we should all now start the healing process.”
On Tuesday, the second-most-watched African-American network, Bounce TV, announced that it would cease showing the late-1990s sitcom Cosby effective immediately.
Last year, TV Land pulled reruns of The Cosby Show from its network. The Centric Network reportedly has now followed suit.
In addition, a Walt Disney World spokesperson confirms to ABC News that the park is removing Cosby’s statue from a plaza at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
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