Bill Cosby's Accusers: A Timeline of Alleged Sexual Assault Claims (Updated)
A firestorm of controversy surrounds comedian Bill Cosby after multiple allegations have surfaced claiming that he sexually assaulted numerous women, with alleged incidents dating as far back as 1969.
The 77-year-old is known around the world for his role as the lovable father Heathcliff Huxtable on the long-running sitcom The Cosby Show, and for having a stand-up comedy career that spans five decades. However, beginning in 2004, various claims of sexual assault and date rape began being leveled against Cosby.
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Cosby has never been charged in any criminal case regarding any of these accusations, and through attorneys has repeatedly denied that any of the allegations are true. Cosby himself briefly addressed the claims, telling Florida Today, "I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos."
To bring clarity to a complex series of troubling accounts, this timeline is arranged in chronological order based on the years of the alleged incidents.
1. Kristina Ruehli
Year of Alleged Incident: 1965
Ruehli, now 71, claimed in an interview with Philadelphia Magazine that Cosby sexually assaulted her when she was a 22-year-old secretary at a talent agency.
Ruehli alleges that Cosby invited her to a party at his home, but when she got there she was the only guest. Ruehli went on to claim that she had a cocktail with Cosby and suddenly passed out. Ruehli further alleges that when she came to, she was in Cosby's bed and he allegedly tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.
Ruehli spoke with Philadelphia Magazine on November 21, and claimed that she was one of the 13 Jane Doe witnesses that was prepared to testify against Cosby during Andrea Constand's civil suit.
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2. Carla Ferrigno
Year of Alleged Incident: 1967
According to actress Carla Ferrigno - wife of The Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno, although the two were not married at the time – she had allegedly been invited on a double date with Cosby and his wife. Carla claims that both couples went to Cosby's home and were shooting pool in the basement. She goes on to allege that at one point, she and Cosby ended up alone together, and that he allegedly pulled her close and kissed her roughly as she tried to fight him off.
Carla opened up about the alleged incident on KFI-AM's John and Ken Show on November 20.
3. Joan Tarshis
Year of Alleged Incident: 1969
Tarshis went public in Nov. 2014 with allegations that Bill Cosby had raped her in 1969 (the same year he made jokes about spiking women's drinks with drugs) when she was a 19-year-old comedy writer. She said Cosby invited her to help create material for his short-lived sitcom The Bill Cosby Show.
"I was sitting up writing one second, and the next second I was lying down on the couch having my underwear taken off," Tarshis alleged in an interview with CBS News. She went on to claim that Cosby raped her twice.
Tarshis told ET's Kevin Frazier that speaking out now was important to her. "I want to support the other women who have gone through this. Now with people coming out...it's being handled differently."
4. Victoria Valentino
Year of Alleged Incident: 1970
Valentino, a former Playboy playmate, claims that she was introduced to Cosby by a Playboy bunny in 1970, just months after the tragic death of her 6-year-old son. Valentino alleges that she and her roommate went out for dinner and drinks with Cosby, who allegedly offered her a pill that would cheer her up.
Valentino claimed, in an interview with The Washington Post in November, that Cosby drove her and her roommate up to an apartment in the Hollywood hills. She alleges Cosby forced her to perform oral sex and then, Valentino claims, he raped her.
"What kind of credibility did I have?" Valentino said, explaining her decision to not report the alleged incident. "In those days, it was always the rape victim who wound up being victimized. You didn't want to go to the police. That's the last thing you wanted to do back then."
5. Louisa Mortiz
Year Of Alleged Incident: 1971
Actress Louisa Mortiz, best known for her work in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, claims that Bill Cosby forced her to perform oral sex on him in the dressing room of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show in 1971.
Mortiz made these claims to TMZ on November 20, in which she alleges that Cosby told her, "You don't want to upset me and the plans for your future, do you?"
6. Donna Motsinger
Year of Alleged Incident: 1971
Motsinger spoke with the New York Post's Page Six on Nov. 26, where she claimed that she was Jane Doe witness No. 8 in the 2005 suit filed against Cosby. Motsinger told the column, "I feel guilty not telling my story… Those women are brave. It’s the least I can do... I want to tell people so [the victims] can’t be bullied, so they can’t be discredited."
Motsinger claims that Cosby drugged and raped her while she was working as a jazz club waitress in Sausalito, Calif.
7. Katherine McKee
Year of Alleged Incident: Early 1970s
McKee, an actress and former show girl, claims that Cosby raped her in a Michigan hotel room in the early 1970s while she was on tour with Sammy Davis Jr.
According to McKee in an interview with the New York Daily News, "Back then, I was Sammy’s road wife. He had an open marriage, and we were lovers. That’s how it went." McKee claims that she knew Cosby through Davis for eight years before he attacked her.
McKee alleges that she came to have dinner with Cosby at his hotel, and that when she arrived Cosby attacked her. "He spun me around, pulled my panties down, and just took it," McKee said. "We were still standing at the door when he attacked me… It was so fast and so shocking and so unbelievable."
8. Helen Hayes
Year Of Alleged Incident: 1973
Hayes claims to have encountered Cosby in 1973 when he allegedly stalked her and her friends during a weekend-long celebrity golf tournament in Pebble Beach, Calif., saying, "His behavior was like that of a predator."
She alleges that, on the last night of the tournament, Cosby approached her from behind, reached over her shoulder and grabbed her breast.
Hayes made the accusations at a Dec. 3 press conference, which was called by civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred. Hayes was joined at the conference by Beth Ferrier and Chelan, two other women who have made sexual assault allegations against Cosby.
9. Judy Huth
Year Of Alleged Incident: 1974
Huth filed a lawsuit against Cosby on Dec. 2, in which she claims that she first met Cosby back in 1974, when she was 15 and she - along with an unnamed 16-year-old female friend - wandered onto a movie set where Cosby was working. According to the lawsuit, Cosby allegedly befriended Huth and her friend, and invited them over to his home where he served them alcohol.
Huth's lawsuit goes on to claim that Cosby knew how old she was, and that he took her to a party at the Playboy Mansion where he allegedly told her to tell anyone who asked that she was 19. While at the party, Huth alleges in court documents that, when she emerged from using the restroom in one of the mansion's many rooms, Cosby was sitting on a bed waiting for her, and then allegedly sexually assaulted her by taking her hand and making her perform a sex act on him.
Huth's suit claims that "this traumatic incident, at such a tender age, has caused psychological damage and mental anguish for [Huth] that has caused her significant problems throughout her life." Huth and her lawyers are seeking a jury trial.
10. Tamara Green
Year of Alleged Incident: 1975
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Green first publicly shared her story on the Today show in 2005 in the wake of the civil lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand. She told Matt Lauer she was suffering from the flu when she met Cosby and "a number of other people" at an L.A. restaurant. According to Green, Cosby gave her pills that would help with her flu symptoms, and before long she was nearly unconscious. Green went on to claim that Cosby took her back to her home, undressed her and began groping her.
"I actually told him that he would have to kill me, that if he didn't kill me and he tried to rape me, it was going to go very badly," Green said. "I guess it was inconvenient at that point, I had not been crushed successfully into submission and he left two $100 bills on my coffee table and he left my apartment."
Green spoke out again in 2014, even writing an op-ed for ETonline in which she detailed the adversity she encountered sharing her story. "To go for help and be dismissed because he's very cool and famous and you are not," she wrote. "It is crushing and you are a victim all over again."
11. Therese Serignese
Year(s) Of Alleged Incident: Mid-1970s
Speaking with People Magazine on Nov. 20, 2014, Seringese alleged that she met with Cosby in Las Vegas, after one of his stand-up shows, when she was 19 years old. She claims that Cosby pressured her into taking Quaaludes – a powerful sedative-hypnotic drug – and then pressured her into agreeing to engage in sexual activity.
Serignese told People, "My next memory is I felt high; I don't remember what happened in the meantime. Then my next memory is being in that vanity room, by that big mirror, and he didn't have any clothes on, and obviously I didn't either by that point. I don't know how they got off. I don't have that memory… I was just like bent over, and he was saying all kinds of dirty stuff," she says. "I felt powerless, I didn't know what to do."
Serignese also claims to be one of the 13 Jane Doe witnesses that were prepared to testify against Cosby during Andrea Constand's 2005 civil suit, before it was settled out of court in 2006. Barbara Bowman and Beth Ferrier, two of Cosby's other accusers, were also allegedly Jane Doe witnesses, however Bowman and Ferrier both went public with their accusations in 2006.
12. Shawn Brown
Year of Alleged Incident: Mid-1970s
Brown, the only woman that Cosby ever admitted having a sexual relationship with, claimed in an interview with The Daily Mail that Cosby drugged and raped her, despite her previous willingness to sleep with him.
She claims that Cosby convinced her to drink alcohol, got her high on marijuana, and then had sex with her after she had blacked out. "I had never really been into him and the other times I had really just been going through the motions," Brown said. "I don't think I was freaky enough for him, and that's why he drugged me."
Brown claims she became pregnant from the affair and gave birth to a daughter, Autumn Jackson, who Cosby secretly helped support. Jackson was later arrested and charged with a felony when she allegedly tried to blackmail Cosby for $40 million to keep his affair with her mother and his alleged paternity of her a secret.
13. Joyce Emmons
Year of Alleged Incident: Late 1970s
In the 1970s, Joyce Emmons ran a number of comedy clubs and claims that she and Cosby would often hang out. According to allegations by Emmons, Cosby had "a drawer full of drugs," including Quaaludes.
Emmons spoke with TMZ on Nov. 22, and claimed that Cosby gave her a pill that was supposed to cure her strong headache, but instead caused her to pass out. Emmons claims that when she woke up, she was in bed with one of Cosby's friends who had attempted to hit on her earlier in the evening.
14. P.J. Masten
Year of Alleged Incident: 1979
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Masten claims that Cosby attacked her when she was working as a Playboy Bunny at the Playboy Club in Chicago. According to Masten, Cosby allegedly lured her to his room where he served her a glass of alcohol, after which she claims to have blacked out.
Masten alleges that she woke up, hours later, in bed next to Cosby who was naked. Masten further claims that Cosby has done this to several Playboy Bunnies, saying, "There are a dozen former bunnies that I know of with similar stories, but they’re afraid to come forward."
15. Linda Kirkpatrick
Year of Alleged Incident: Early 1980s
Kirkpatrick claims that Cosby invited her to see him perform at the Las Vegas Hilton when she was 25. According to Kirkpatrick, Cosby asked her to see him in his dressing room where she claims he served her spiked champagne and then sexually assaulted her.
Kirkpatrick was one of three women to level new accusations against Cosby at a press conference held by Gloria Allred on Jan. 7.
16. Lynn Neal
Year of Alleged Incident: Early 1980s
Neal claims that Cosby sexually assaulted her when she was in her mid-20s after the comedian invited her to one of his stand-up performances at the Las Vegas Hilton. According to Neal, Cosby took her out for a bite to eat after the show and bought her a drink.
"By the time we walked back to his dressing room, I was having problems walking," Neal claimed at a press conference held by Gloria Allred on Jan. 7. "When we entered the dressing room I sat on the couch and he started taking my pants down … I felt helpless and I couldn't stop him."
17. Janice Dickinson
Year of Alleged Incident: 1982
The 59-year-old supermodel is the latest and most high-profile woman to make allegations against Cosby. Sitting down for an exclusive interview with ET on Nov. 18, Dickinson claims Cosby contacted her after she got out of rehab and convinced her to travel to Lake Tahoe to have dinner and discuss a possible job opportunity. After this dinner she alleges that he gave her a pill to help with menstrual cramps.
"The next morning I woke up, and I wasn't wearing my pajamas, and I remember before I passed out that I had been sexually assaulted by this man," she alleges. "Before I woke up in the morning, the last thing I remember was Bill Cosby in a patchwork robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me. And I remember a lot of pain."
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18. Renita Chaney Hill
Years of Alleged Incident: 1982-1986
Renita Chaney Hill claims that she began a relationship with Cosby in 1982 when she was only 15 years old. According to Hill, Cosby allegedly served her drinks and when she woke up she would find herself in bed. Hill says that she doesn't know if Cosby raped her because she was unconscious after drinking cocktails he allegedly served her.
Allegedly, Hill continued to see Cosby until she was 19 before breaking it off.
Hill spoke to KDKA Pittsburgh, saying, "No one wants to be associated with something like this… But the bottom line for me is that no one has the right to violate someone else, no matter who they are. I don’t care how big they are or how the community sees them. It's not right."
19. Beth Ferrier
Years of Alleged Incident: Early to mid-1980s
Following the 2005 civil suit filed by Andrea Constad against Cosby, Ferrier came out as one of 13 women who had been preparing to serve as a Jane Doe witness against Cosby before the case was settled out of court.
According to Ferrier, one night after she ended their months-long consensual affair, she was drinking a cup of coffee in Cosby's dressing room in Denver. "He said, 'Here's your favorite coffee, something I made, to relax you,'" she says. And then she blacked out. When she came to, Ferrier claims that her clothes were disheveled and her bra unhooked. Ferrier told People magazine in 2006 that when she asked Cosby about the incident, he allegedly said, "We'll never speak of this again."
20. Beverly Johnson
Year of Alleged Incident: Mid-1980s
Supermodel Beverly Johnson wrote an essay for Vanity Fair in December, alleging that she was drugged and almost attacked by Cosby after she auditioned for a role on The Cosby Show.
In the op-ed, Johnson wrote that after meeting with the sitcom star at a taping of the show, "He seemed genuinely interested in guiding me to the next level." She claims that she was invited to Cosby's home on multiple occasions, but during her last visit, he allegedly gave her coffee that she later realized was laced with drugs.
Johnson claims that she knew almost immediately that she had been drugged, and when Cosby began trying to put his hands on her, she screamed at him. According to Johnson, Cosby became enraged and kicked her out of his house and shoved her into a cab, leaving her confused and disoriented.
21. Barbara Bowman
Year of Alleged Incident: 1986
Bowman was another of the 13 Jane Doe witnesses who had been prepping to testify against Cosby for Andrea Constad's 2005 civil suit. She made headlines again in November of this year when she penned an article for the Washington Post titled, "Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?"
Bowman claims that Cosby worked toward gaining her trust and becoming her mentor before sexually assaulting her in a Reno hotel room in 1986. Bowman alleges that this was the first in a string of instances that took place that year, including an assault in Atlantic City when Cosby drugged her and forcibly attempted to rape her.
"[Cosby] threw me on the bed and braced his arm under my neck so I couldn't move my head, and he started trying to take his clothes off," Bowman told People magazine back in 2006 . "I remember all the clinking of his belt buckle. And he was trying to take my pants down, and I was trying to keep them on."
22. Lisa Jones
Year Of Alleged Incident: 1986
Jones claims that she first met Cosby in 1986, when she was 17 and working as a model in Canada. She alleges that Cosby contacted her modeling agency to invite her and her mother to meet him at a stand-up performance in Vancouver. According to Jones, Cosby acted like a father figure to gain her trust.
Jones claims that the comedian later invited her to fly out to New York to audition for a role on The Cosby Show, but when she landed she was driven to Cosby's home, where he allegedly gave her alcohol. Jones claims Cosby was "very derogatory about how women were going to be successful in the industry and how [the way] women had gotten successful was by the casting couch."
Jones went public with her allegations to ET Canada on Dec. 1, 2014, where she further claimed that Cosby tried to sexually assault her. "He, out of nowhere, started to walk past me, and crouched in front of my knees, grabbed my legs, and tried to pull them apart… I just remember I was so shocked… All I wanted to do was get out of there because I was in an unsafe environment and that's what I did."
23. Chelan
Year Of Alleged Incident: 1986
Chelan, whose last name has not been made public, claims that Cosby reached out to her in 1986 when she was 17 and working at the Las Vegas Hilton. Chelan, then an aspiring model, says Cosby corresponded with her under the pretense of introducing her to modeling agency reps. She claims that when she arrived at his hotel suite in Vegas, Cosby gave her a blue pill and said it was an antihistamine, then told her to take it with alcohol.
Chelan claims that Cosby sexually assaulted her before she passed out, and that when she awoke, Cosby gave her $1,500. According to Chelan, Cosby later invited her to see his stand-up show at the Hilton, but when she declined, she was fired.
She went public with her allegations at a Dec. 3 press conference, which was called by civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred. Chelan was joined at the conference by Beth Ferrier and Helen Hayes, two other women who have made sexual assault allegations against Cosby.
24. Jena T.
Year of Alleged Incident: 1988
In an interview with People, Jena T. – she asked that her last name not be used – claims that, when she was 17, she met with a modeling agency in New York, and was then sent to meet with Cosby.
According to Jena T., Cosby called her parents to encourage them to support Jena's move to New York, and assured her that he would help her become a successful model. However, Jena claims that she soon became uncomfortable with the amount of attention Cosby paid her, and felt it was more than paternal.
Jena claims that she attempted to confront Cosby, who responded to her concerns with an offer to send her to college and buy her a car. Later, Jena claims Cosby pressured her into an unwanted sexual position, and allegedly gave her $700 before she left.
Jena T. claims that the incident with Cosby has had long-lasting negative effects on her self-esteem and ability to trust people.
25. Lisa
Year of Alleged Incident: 1988
Identifying herself only by her first name, Lisa appeared on Dr. Phil where she accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her when she was 21.
Lisa alleges that she met Cosby while trying to pursue a modeling career. Lisa told Dr. Phil that Cosby invited her back to his house where he poured her a shot of alcohol, which she drank and began to immediately feel dizzy. She claims Cosby then asked her to join him on his couch.
"I was sitting down in between his legs with my back to his crotch," Lisa said. "He started to stroke my hair back in a petting motion. The last thing I remember is just feeling the strokes on my head. After that I don’t remember anything else."
26. Jewel Allison
Year(s) of Alleged Incident: Late-1980s
Jewel Allison claims that Cosby began contacting her in the late 1980s, supposedly to try and mentor her and develop her career as a model and actress.
Allison alleges that she accepted a dinner invitation to Cosby's home, during which he allegedly poured her a glass of wine. Allison claims that after she drank the wine, she quickly felt incapacitated and collapsed. Allison further alleges that Cosby sexually assaulted her that evening.
In an interview with The New York Daily News, Allison said, "There's no such thing as America's Dad… There's just a man named Bill Cosby. He's a very sick sociopath."
27. Kacey
Year of Alleged Incident: Early 1990s
Kacey – one of three women to accused Cosby of sexual assault at a press conference held by Gloria Allred on Jan. 7 – claims that she was attacked by the comedian when she was working at the William Morris Agency as an assistant to Cosby's personal appearance agent.
Kacey says she was invited to Cosby's house to read a script with him, whereupon she claims the comic pressured her into taking a "large white pill."
"Next, I remember waking up in a bed with Mr. Cosby naked beneath his open robe," Kacey told reporters during the press conference. Kacey claims that she soon left William Morris in order to avoid seeing Cosby again.
28. Angela Leslie
Year of Alleged Incident: 1992
At the time, Angela Leslie was an aspiring actress who allegedly met with Cosby in Las Vegas. Leslie claims that the comedian tried to get her to drink a cocktail he had made her, but she didn't drink from it.
According to Leslie's allegations, made in The New York Daily News, Cosby coerced her into touching his genitals, but allegedly kicked her out of his hotel when she refused to drink from the cocktail that he poured her.
29. Michelle Hurd
Year of Alleged Incident: 1995
Actress Michelle Hurd, best known for her work in Law & Order: SVU, claims that Cosby was very "inappropriate" with her when she had a small role in an episode of The Cosby Mysteries.
In a Facebook post written November 21, Hurd claimed, "It started innocently, lunch in his dressing room, daily, then onto weird acting exercises were he would move his hands up and down my body, (can’t believe I fell for that). I was instructed to NEVER tell anyone what we did together, (he said other actors would become jealous) and then fortunately, I dodged the ultimate bullet with him when he asked me to come to his house, take a shower so we could blow dry my hair and see what it looked like straightened.
At that point my own red flags went off and I told him, "No, I’ll just come to work tomorrow with my hair straightened".
30. Lachelle Covington
Year of Alleged Incident: 2000
Lachelle Covington, an actress on the sitcom Cosby, filed a police report against the comedian accusing him of making unwanted sexual advances toward her.
According to the 2000 story in The New York Post, Covington allegedly came to Cosby looking for career advice. The police report claimed that Cosby put his hand under her shirt and then allegedly attempted to guide her hand down his pants.
31. Andrea Constand
Year of Alleged Incident:January 2004
Constand, the director of operations for the Temple University women's basketball team, says that in November of 2002, she met with Cosby – a Temple University alum – when he approached her and offered to be her mentor in an attempt to gain her trust. In January 2004, she says she met with Cosby at his home in Pennsylvania and alleges that he gave her pills that he said would ease her anxiety. Constand claims that after drugging her, Cosby groped and sexually assaulted her.
In March 2005, Constand filed civil charges against Cosby. Thirteen unidentified women agreed to serve as Jane Doe witnesses to testify that they too were sexually assaulted by Cosby, but the case was settled out of court for an unspecified amount in November 2006, and the 13 witnesses didn't get the chance to take the stand.
32. Chloe Goins
Year of Alleged Incident: 2008
Goins, 24, claims that Cosby drugged her and sexually assaulted her during a party at the Playboy Mansion when she was 18 years old. Goins' lawyer, Spencer Kuvin, told BBC, ""Ms. Goins and I are here for two reasons: For justice and accountability."
Goins is the first accuser whose claims of sexual abuse may fall within California's statute of limitations, which means it is possible that Cosby could be charged.
However, Cosby has not been charged and denies Goins' allegations, as well as all other accusations leveled against him.
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Since the recent rape allegations, Cosby's upcoming NBC show was killed, The Cosby Show reruns have been pulled from TV Land and Netflix has postponed the comedian's stand-up comedy special.
Cosby has never been criminally charged for any of these allegations and has universally denied all claims.
The comedian's lawyer also responded to Janice Dickinson's rape allegations directly, calling them "a lie."
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