A former child actress has claimed she was “drugged and raped” as a teenager by American TV star Bill Cosby.
She accuses the 77-year-old comedian — best known for playing father-of-five Cliff Huxtable in the sitcom The Cosby Show — of sexually assaulting her in two hotel rooms and at his New York home in the 1980s.
Barbara Bowman, now 47, told MailOnline: “I was drugged and raped by that man. He is a monster. He came at me like a monster.”
She said she was introduced to the star in 1985, as a 17-year-old aspiring actress, in hope that Cosby would become her mentor.
‘Trust me like I was your father'
“My agent told me Mr Cosby was scouting for young talent,” she said. Cosby, who flew her around the US to watch him perform, manipulated her insecurities, she said. “He told me, ‘Trust me like I was your father.’ He zeroed in on that like a laser beam,” she claims.
Bowman’s claims come days after US stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress branded Cosby a racist during a show in the star’s hometown of Philadelphia.
In 2006, another woman, Andrea Constand, accused Cosby of drugging and assaulting her.
Cosby settled out of court. At the time, his lawyer said the accusations were “utterly preposterous” and “plainly bizarre”.
Bowman believes Cosby spiked her drink and raped her at his New York flat. She said: “I had one glass of red wine. My next recollection is me, slumped over the toilet bowl, throwing up. I was wearing a man’s white T-shirt — Bill was standing over me.”
She claims Cosby tried to force himself on her again in a hotel room but threw her out when she screamed for help.
The mother-of-two, who appeared in several US commercials before becoming an artist, said Cosby then cut her out of his life.
His spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
