The long list of Bill Cosby accusers alleging sexual assault just got longer.
BuzzFeed published an interview on Tuesday with a woman named Patricia (her last name withheld for privacy reasons), who was counted among the 13 “Jane Doe” witnesses in a 2005 civil lawsuit Andrea Constand filed after claiming the TV dad drugged and molested her.
Patricia, now 58, said she and the 12 other anonymous women were “effectively silenced” after Constand settled with Cosby in 2006, because they did not need to testify in court. Now she’s speaking out for the first time to tell others, “You don’t have to keep this a secret anymore.”
“I played a part in what happened to me, because I trusted the wrong person,” she said. “I allowed my ambition to color my ability to make healthy choices. But what Cosby did was without my consent and a violation.”
Patricia was 22 years old at the time of her encounter with the comedian in 1978 at his family home in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. She alleges she was invited for a dinner party, but was surprised to see only two place settings at the table when she arrived. After accepting a mixed drink from Cosby, she participated in an improvisational acting exercise she described as “so creepy.”
“He told me to convince him that I could remain regal and queenlike no matter what I looked like. I would leave the room and walk back in, pretending to be a queen with oatmeal on her face, and he would tell me I was doing it wrong and to go back and try again,” Patricia said. “Then, I started to feel weird from the drink. And then I don’t remember much.”
What she does remember, however, is waking up naked in Cosby’s guest bedroom after blacking out. According to Patricia, Cosby was standing over her in a bathrobe, and told her she had thrown up all over her dress and then passed out. Cosby said he was washing the dress for her, and offered her a toothbrush.
“I believed him,” said Patricia. “I was deeply ashamed.”
Cosby’s attorney, Martin Singer, has not yet responded to TheWrap‘s request for comment, but has previously denied all allegations against his client.
Patricia, an aspiring singer when she met Cosby at a conference at the University of Massachusetts, believes he drugged and sexually assaulted her twice during their relationship that began with the promise of mentorship.
“I was young, naive, and very flattered, and I agreed,” she said. “I thought he really wanted to help me. He was very paternal to me; it wasn’t creepy at all. I trusted him to be a person I could respect.”
Patricia says the second alleged assault occurred in 1980 after Cosby took her to a live taping of the “Dinah Shore Show.” She says the Hollywood star refused to speak to her unless she agreed to take some pills he said would “relax her.” When she awoke in Cosby’s suite the next morning, she was once again naked.
“I was very sick and knew that someone had penetrated me,” Patricia said. “Finally, I realized what was happening.”
She confronted Cosby that morning, but says he grew furious and threw her out of the hotel room for being “ungrateful.” She kept the incidents secret until joining Constand’s lawsuit at the advice of her therapist.
“I internalized the events with tremendous shame and far too much responsibility,” she said. “I didn’t think that anyone would believe me.”