I’m sickened Bill Cosby is free…I don’t think I’ll ever get over it, says Janice Dickinson
WHEN veteran entertainer Bill Cosby was released two years into his jail term last week, the internet went into meltdown.
Celebrities either tweeted in support of the 83-year-old — who had been found guilty of molesting and drugging a former female basketball player — or in outrage at the decision.
Sixty women have previously gone public with allegations against the comedian, but only one, Andrea Constand, 48, did so within the legal time frame to prosecute him.
It was the conviction in her case that was overturned last Wednesday. Supermodel Janice Dickinson is one of the women who has previously accused Cosby, but by the time she went public in 2014, the statute of limitations had run out. Cosby has publicly denied her claims.
Janice, 66, says: “I was devastated when I heard the news that Bill Cosby had been released from prison. I was forlorn, disenchanted, angry.
I was watching the news and seeing his face . . . it disgusted me. This week has been very hard. Sleeping has been my only solace.
Janice Dickinson
“I couldn’t say a word. My husband was worried because normally I’m really chatty, but this put me into a state of quiet.
“I was watching the news and seeing his face . . . it disgusted me. This week has been very hard. Sleeping has been my only solace.
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to get over this. I believe he’s a predator and he got away with it.”
The decision to quash Cosby’s conviction was made by a judge at Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, who ruled that an agreement with a previous district attorney — that Cosby would not be charged over abuse allegations — should be honoured.
Janice’s lawyer Lisa Bloom, who also represents two of his other alleged victims, tweeted after the hearing: “He is not released because he is innocent. He is released because a prosecutor promised him years ago that he would not be brought to justice.”
Will And Grace sitcom star Debra Messing, 52, said: “I am full fury. It is horrifying.”
While actress Ellen Barkin, 67, tweeted: “Heartbreaking for all survivors. #MeToo lasts for ever.”
Cosby — once known as America’s Dad because of his clean-cut image in family show The Cosbys — has always maintained his innocence and denied any wrongdoing, and he has plenty of supporters.
Following his release, Phylicia Rashad, 73, who played his wife Clair on The Cosby Show, tweeted: “FINALLY!!! A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice corrected.”
But this is not the stance of Janice, whose claims go back to when she was 27, in 1982. After seeing him throw peace signs outside his home in Pennsylvania last week, she says: “I was disgusted when he came out on camera from his home and he was beaming, holding two women’s hands. They were stood there, being protective of him.”
Janice, a former judge on reality show America’s Next Top Model, claims Cosby telephoned her when she was a young starlet, inviting her to visit him in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
She says she joined him and claims he bought her new clothes and listened to her sing. Then later over dinner, after she saw the comedian perform on stage, she says he offered to pay for her acting lessons.
She adds: “Who does that for somebody? Unless they want to f* you. But I still didn’t think he wanted to f* me. I was so naive. God, I can’t believe how stupid I was. At dinner my stomach was upset. I was probably feeling what was to come, some bad vibes. It started to ache. He said, ‘Take this, it’ll make you feel better’.
I remember when he got on top of me, I was going, ‘No, no, no, get off of me’
Janice Dickinson
“When I got up from the table I felt lightheaded. Then when I got to the elevator I started feeling really spaced out. When I got to the room, he went into the other room and got changed and I was just sat there playing with my camera. He came out of the bedroom and I just started taking pictures of him. I had a glass of red wine.
“He had a grimace on his face, I remember.” She then alleges: “I remember when he got on top of me, I was going, ‘No, no, no, get off of me’. And then the next thing I knew I had passed out.
"I remember thrashing, going, ‘No, get off of me, I don’t want this’. And by the morning I was swollen, kind of ripped. And it hurt.
“It wasn’t my fault, but I shouldn’t have taken the pill. I should’ve got up and said, ‘I’m going to bed now’.
“I’m thinking of a thousand things I should have done. Maybe I could have avoided it.”
Cosby denies the claims.
Speaking about her decision not to go public with her claims until seven years ago, Janice says: “I was one of the world’s best models and I had the best clients. I had Gianni Versace and Giorgio Armani and was working with a bunch of top-drawer photographers all over the world.
“I had top clients like Coca-Cola and Vogue, all of the fashion shows with all the designers and all of the magazines.”
And she adds of her claims: “I stuck all this ugliness into a compartment and buried it for several years. The few times that I would see Cosby on television or hear his voice, I would shudder and it would all come flooding back to me.
“It took a while to padlock those ugly scenarios inside of my psyche.”
Janice testified as a witness in Cosby’s 2018 trial for sexual assault against Andrea Constand.
He was found guilty and handed a three to ten-year jail sentence, which was overturned last week.
Janice says: “When I saw him in the courthouse I was revolted, and I sat there and I just wanted to scream and shout and go up and strangle him.
When I saw him in the courthouse I was revolted, and I sat there and I just wanted to scream and shout and go up and strangle him
Janice Dickinson
"But I’m a lady and I’m very well reserved, so I didn’t.”
Since his release, Cosby’s rep has revealed he will write a book about his experiences.
Janice says: “I’m sure it will sell. People will want to read his side of the story, no matter how despicable it is.”
But what would Janice say to Cosby if she could speak to him face to face?
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She replies: “I wouldn’t say anything, I’d just spit in his face.
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“Sorry, I don’t have any words. I wouldn’t waste them on him.”
A representative for Cosby said: “Mr Cosby was never charged nor convicted of rape. Mr Cosby was convicted of aggravated indecent assault, for which he maintains his innocence.”
