Cosby accuser challenged over timing of trauma, depression

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — An attorney for Bill Cosby challenged an accuser of the actor and comedian Wednesday over her struggles with depression, suggesting they were clearly not spurred by Cosby sexually abusing her when she was 16 in 1975, as her lawsuit alleges.

Judy Huth filed the lawsuit in 2014, saying that her son turning 15 that same year brought back painful memories of her sexual assault, and brought on subsequent depression. Huth, now 64, said she initially remembered being 15 when Cosby forced her to perform a sex act at the Playboy Mansion, though she recently determined she was 16.

Cosby attorney Jennifer Bonjean showed Huth medical records from 2011, 2012 and 2013 in which her doctor assessed her with major depression and prescribed her antidepressants.

“We can agree that you suffered from major depression before your son turned 15?” Bonjean asked Huth, who was on the witness stand in a Los Angeles County courthouse for a second day in the civil trial.

“I don’t know that I did,” Huth said.

“So medical records showing that would be inaccurate?” Bonjean asked.

Huth repeatedly answered that and similar questions by saying she did not remember dealing with depression or taking medications for it during those years, but acknowledged that the documents in front of her said she had.

Bonjean also pointed to different potential causes for Huth’s depression.

“You had a long history of trauma in your life that had nothing to do with Mr. Cosby, right?” Bonjean asked.

“Nothing as bad as that, that’s for sure,” Huth answered.

Huth testified to living in an abusive home with her mother as a child until age 10 when she moved in with her father and things got far better. She also said her grandfather attempted to molest her when she was four, and she was involved in a horrific car accident in which a family of five was killed.