Bill Cosby drugged and raped me, claims former teen model

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A former teenage model has described being “drugged and raped” by comedian Bill Cosby during the 1980s.

Writing for the Washington Post, Barbara Bowman claimed: “Cosby won my trust as a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times. In one case, I blacked out after having dinner and one glass of wine at his New York City brownstone… I’m certain that he drugged and raped me.”

Now 47 and a married mother of two, Ms Bowman also detailed an incident when Mr Cosby allegedly pinned her to his hotel bed and made to remove his trousers. “I furiously tried to wrestle from his grasp until he eventually gave up, angrily called me ‘a baby’ and sent me home,” she wrote.

When another woman, Andrea Constand, filed a lawsuit in 2004 alleging the comedian had drugged and raped her, 13 more came forward with similar claims, including Ms Bowman. Yet the case was settled out of court and they were never asked to testify. Mr Cosby denies the allegations. His representatives have not responded to a request for comment regarding Ms Bowman’s piece.

The claims against Cosby have surfaced again in recent months following a biography, by author Mark Whitaker, which controversially omitted the accusations.