In a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred in New York, Lili Bernard and Sammie Mays shared their allegations against Cosby. Lili, who appeared in an episode of the final season of “The Cosby Show,” claimed that she was drugged, raped and threatened by Cosby while he was mentoring her in preparation for her appearance as “the zany and very pregnant Mrs. Minifield.”
Bernard claimed that she last saw the comedian at the “Cosby Show” studios in 1992, where he told her, “As far as I’m concerned, Bernard, you’re dead. Do you hear me? You’re dead, Bernard. You don’t exist, I never wanna see your face again. Now get the hell out of here!”
“I interpreted that as a death threat and feared for my life,” Bernard said.
Bernard claims to have become suicidal in the months following that encounter, and said that she still suffers panic attacks and night terrors “as a result of what Mr. Cosby did to me.”
During Friday’s conference, Sammie Mays said that she encountered Cosby in the mid-’80s, as a writer covering the NATPE convention in New Orleans. According to Mays, when she asked Cosby for a brief interview, she invited him to walk with her from the convention center across the street to his hotel. (and you know the rest)
Bernard and Mays join more than 40 women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault. Bernard reported her incident to the police this week, since there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault in New Jersey, where she says the rape took place.
