Bill Cosby said in a 2005 deposition that he gave Andrea Costand pills on the night she says he sexually assaulted her — but said they were only the decongestant Benadryl.
Cosby said he gave her the pills, one full tablet cut in two and one half-tablet, to help her relax before reaching into her pants. Cosby admitted Constand was “uncomfortable” at the initial advance but became aroused.
“I have three friends to make you relax,” he said of the pills.
The statements emerged Thursday during Cosby’s criminal trial, in which he is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Costand.
Cosby’s statement in the deposition, from Costand’s civil case against him, was consistent with statements he made to police in January 2005. Other portions of the deposition, in which Cosby admits to giving Quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with, were expected to be read on Friday.
Thursday’s evidence also included a 2005 interview with police in which Cosby said his relationship with Costand was consensual, and that he feared her mother would try to blackmail him.
Seated alongside his lawyers in court Thursday, Cosby listened to Sergeant Richard Schaffer of the Cheltenham Township Police Department reading the interview, which took place at a lawyer’s office in New York City.
Cosby told police that he and Constand engaged in “petting” — fully clothed kissing and fondling in his Cheltenham home — on three occasions. He said that she only resisted advance once, and that he stopped.
Cosby also said he had been blackmailed before and was worried about the nature of phone calls between himself, Andrea Costand and her mother, Gianna Costand.
“The mother is the dominant factor in our conversations,” Cosby told police.
Gianna Costand testified Wednesday that her daughter moved home to live with her parents after the 2004 attack by Cosby, and that she would wake up screaming from nightmares. She said Cosby graphically described what happened between him and Andrea Costand, insisting it was consensual and calling her “mom.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, there was no penile penetration, only digital penetration,” Constand quoted Cosby as saying.
In one of the phone calls, which was recorded and played for the jury yesterday, Cosby offers Gianna financial compensation for Andrea’s graduate schooling.
Gianna Constand also testified Wednesday that she had multiple phone conversations with Cosby in which she questioned what pills Cosby gave her daughter.
On Tuesday, Constand, 44, gave a different account of what happened between her and Cosby on the January 2004 night she says he assaulted her. She testified that she went to Cosby‘s home to discuss her career and he gave her three pills he said would help her relax. After taking the pills, her legs became “rubbery.” Cosby then groped her breasts and placed her hand on his penis, she testified.
In Cosby’s deposition from the civil case, he said he and Constand had a consensual sexual encounter prior to the night she says he assaulted her. In that encounter, Cosby said he invited her over for dinner.
“I began to test in terms of touching,” he said.
After the meal, he said, he placed his hand on her midriff and digitally penetrated her. Cosby said Constand did not object until he began to kiss her breasts, and he then stopped.