Judge Alex weighs in on Cosby sexual-assault allegation
What are possible legal ramifications?
Ten.
That’s the number of women who have come forward to publicly claim Bill Cosby sexually abused them, or attempted to.
They say they are telling their stories after enduring years fearful or embarrassing silence, but Cosby’s lawyer has come out against some of the women, calling them liars and opportunists, and labeling the press coverage a “feeding frenzy.”
Carla Ferrigno, who is now married to bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, said she was working as a Playboy Bunny in 1967 when she went on a double date with the comedian and his wife. She claims the date ended up at the Cosbys’ house, and when Cosby’s wife Camille retired for the evening, and her companion disappeared, Cosby attacked her.
"He was much bigger than me. Much bigger and he pulled me so hard and so rough. I had never been treated so roughly and he pulled me hard to him so hard,” she told the Daily Mail. “And then kissed me so hard, right in the mouth. No one has ever been that physically violent with me. I was stunned. I was frozen. I took all my body strength and used both of my arms to stop him and push him away from me. He was so forceful."
She said she was speaking out now because "I want to be one of those women. One more nail in the coffin."
Former child actress Renita Chaney told KDKA-Pittsburgh she met Cosby in the 1980s when she was 15 and acting on his educational television segments called “Picture Pages.” Over four years she said he would “fly me to a number of cities. He would be busy during the day, then I’d come to his hotel room at night.”
She said Cosby would insist she have drinks, even though she was underage.
“One time, I remember just before I passed out, I remember him kissing and touching me and I remember the taste of his cigar on his breath, and I didn’t like it,” Hill said. “I remember another time when I woke up in my bed the next day and he was leaving, he mentioned you should probably lose a little weight. I thought that odd, how would he know that?”
She said she was unconscious so she didn’t know if she was raped, but suspected she was.
Former model and actress Angelia Leslie told The Daily News that the comedian forced her to masturbate him in a hotel room in 1992. She said he offered her a drink but she refused.
"I couldn't drink it. I tasted it and put it down,” she said. “Then he asked me to go into the bathroom and wet my hair. I walked back out, and he had removed his clothing and gotten into bed.” She said Cosby poured lotion into her palm and put her hand on him, and his on hers. "He masturbated with my hand. I wasn't pulling back. I was in shock."
Actress Louisa Moritz told TMZ that she was at the NBC studios in 1971 waiting in the green room for an appearance on “The Tonight Show” when Cosby came in and "suddenly approached me and took out his penis, which was now in the line of my face [she's 5' tall] and pressed up against it."
"He took his hands and put them on the back of my head and forced his penis in my mouth, saying, 'have a taste of this. It will do you good in so many ways."
Therese Serignese, now a nurse in Boca Raton, said the television icon raped her in 1976 when she was 19 years old following a show in Las Vegas. She said she went backstage and when the two were alone, Cosby gave her two pills and a glass of water, saying, "Take these."
"My next memory is clearly feeling drugged, being without my clothes, standing up," she said. "Bill Cosby was behind me, having sex with me."
Barbara Bowman, an aspiring actress, said in a Nov. 13 Washington Post column that she was 17 and blacked out after Cosby drugged her, waking up to find herself in panties and a man's T-shirt with the television icon looming over her. She said she was certain she was raped.
Joan Tarshis on Monday said she was a 19-year-old who wanted to be a comedy writer when Cosby gave her a drink and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Janice Dickinson on Tuesday told "Entertainment Tonight" that Cosby had given her red wine and a pill when they were together in a Lake Tahoe, California, hotel room in 1982. Cosby's lawyer, Martin Singer, said in a letter to the AP that Dickinson's charges were "false and outlandish."
Tamara Green wrote an opinion piece Wednesday for "Entertainment Tonight." In 2005, Green publicly claimed that she was drugged and Cosby attempted to assault her; Cosby's lawyers have previously denied they knew each other.
In addition, Andrea Constand filed a civil suit against Cosby in 2005, which lawyers said would include testimony from 13 unnamed women. The suit was settled out of court.
Cosby's attorney has blasted many of the accounts. "People coming out of nowhere with this sort of inane yarn is what happens in a media-driven feeding frenzy," he said.
Cosby spokesman David Brokaw did not respond to AP’s request for comment. Singer, in a statement released Sunday, criticized previous "decades-old, discredited allegations," stating that "the fact that they are being repeated does not make them true."
Cosby made no mention of the allegations Thursday during a benefit performance in the Bahamas for a women's service organization. He stuck to his routine, including stories about his childhood growing up in the projects of Philadelphia. There were few empty seats in the house, and a few people gave him an ovation when he finished his set.
Some in the audience said the allegations against Cosby remain unproven, and they added that his performance was a benefit for what they felt was a good cause.
Dozens of Cosby's television and comedy colleagues have either refused to comment or not returned telephone calls from The Associated Press in recent days.
Cosby declined to comment in two recorded interviews by The Associated Press and National Public Radio.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.