Cosby’s most vocal accuser talks about drugging, assault

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Janice Dickinson was a young model in 1982 when she met Bill Cosby through her agency and he offered to fly her to Lake Tahoe to discuss her interest in an acting career.

“I felt comfortable to accept his invitation because I saw this as the next step .... to further my career,” she said.

Dickinson, Cosby’s most vocal accuser, has a pending lawsuit against him for defamation. She is the fourth woman to testify at Cosby’s trial this week in Norristown that he drugged and sexually assaulted her.

Cosby gave Dickinson a pill at dinner after she complained of menstrual cramps, she said, and then took her to his hotel room. She said she began to feel lightheaded and was struggling to speak.

“He got on top of me and his robe opened,” she said, and he began to have sex with her. “I remember his breath, I remember the taste of his kiss, it smelled like cigars and espresso. I remember he was America’s Dad on top of me and a happily married man with five children and I remember thinking how wrong it was, how very wrong it was.”

Dickinson, who is famous and has enjoyed a successful modeling career, had a different tone and life experience than the three other women who testified about their allegations against the entertainer this week. She used a curse word from the witness stand — quickly catching herself and apologizing — and she casually dropped the names of agents, lawyers, and other celebrities throughout her testimony.

She said she was in Bali on a modeling job when Cosby offered to fly her directly to meet him in Lake Tahoe.

“He offered me transportation and he said, ‘will you fly economy?’” she said. “And I said, ‘no, I will not, I will fly first class.’”

The morning after the alleged rape, Dickinson said she woke up in her own hotel room, mostly unclothed, and was sore between her legs. The next day, she said, she confronted Cosby.

“’That wasn’t cool,’” she said she told him. “And he said nothing. He looked at me like I was crazy. And I didn’t feel crazy at that moment standing up for myself saying ‘that’s not cool. That’s not cool.’ I remember saying ‘you’re married, how did this happen, like why did you do it?’ ... I wanted to hit him. I wanted to punch him in the face.”

In 2010, when she was on the television show “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” Dickinson said she told Dr. Drew Pinsky, the doctor who is the namesake of the show, what had happened to her.

Dickinson said she also wanted to include the alleged rape in her memoir, but her publisher and ghost writer advised against it.

“(They) said it would never get past Cosby’s legal team,” she said. “He’s a powerful guy and they told me he can ruin your career.”