Supermodel Janice Dickinson testified Thursday at the Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial on Tuesday, telling the court that she “wanted to punch him in the face” when she confronted him after, she claims, he raped her in Lake Tahoe in 1982.
Dickinson testified that Cosby invited her to meet him in Lake Tahoe to discuss her career and gave her a little round, blue pill that she was told would help with the menstrual cramps she was experiencing. Shortly after taking the pill, Dickinson testified, she became woozy. Later, Dickinson said, Cosby opened his robe and got on top of her.
Saying she felt motionless and immobile at the time, Dickinson remembered thinking that she didn’t consent to what was occurring.
Asked to clarify, Dickinson said that she was referring to sex.
The next day, Dickinson said, she confronted Cosby, who, she testified, looked at her as if she were crazy.
“I wanted to punch him in the face,” Dickinson told the court.
Dickinson remained resolute while being cross-examined by Cosby defense attorney Thomas Mesereau. Questioning Dickinson about the discrepancy between her testimony and her account of meeting Cosby in her 2002 memoir, “No Lifeguard on Duty,” Mesereau suggested that Dickinson lied to get a paycheck.
“I’m not a liar, sir. Don’t call me a liar,” Dickinson replied.
While her book ultimately did not contain an account of the alleged rape, Dickinson said, “I told my publisher and I told my ghostwriter exactly what happened to me in Tahoe. They weren’t there and you weren’t there and I am under oath.”
“He raped me in Tahoe,” Dickinson added.
Cosby is being re-tried on three counts of aggravated indecent assault, stemming from former Temple University employee Andrea Constand’s accusation that the comedian molesting her in 2004 at his home outside of Philadelphia.
Cosby’s initial trial in the matter ended in a mistrial in July 2017 after the jury was unable to reach a verdict following five days of deliberations.