In an essay published in The Huffington Post that is equal parts sad and entirely expected, former entertainment executive Cindra Ladd accused Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her in 1969. What makes this accusation a bit different from the many other accusations is that Ladd and Cosby had a fairly close relationship before the alleged assault occurred. Writes Ladd:
“We began hanging out, took in a movie, watched television and ate pizza and hot dogs in my apartment with my roommate. He was married to his current wife and he acted like a perfect gentleman who didn't come on to either of us, which, I have to admit, made me wonder what his objective was.”
At one of their meetings, however, things took a decidedly different turn. Ladd wasn’t feeling well, but not wanting to cancel she arrived at an apartment belonging to one of Cosby’s friends. Complaining of a headache, Cosby left the room and came back with a pill he touted as a “miracle cure.” Ladd writes:
“I asked a couple of times what it was. Each time he reassured me, asking, "Don't you trust me?" Of course I did. This was Bill Cosby.
For more than 45 years I have tried to recall exactly what happened that night. To this day it remains a blur. I have a vague recollection of feeling like I was floating while walking through Times Square and watching some kind of Japanese samurai movie with him. I don't remember where the theater was nor very much of the evening.
What I do recall, vividly and clearly, is waking up the next morning nude in the bed of his friend's apartment and seeing Cosby wearing a white terrycloth bathrobe and acting as if there was nothing unusual. It was obvious to me that he had had sex with me. I was horrified, embarrassed and ashamed. There was a mirror above the bed, which shocked me further.”
Ladd says that other than telling her roommate, she remained silent for 36 years until finally telling her husband (Alan Ladd, who produced Braveheart and Chariots of Fire) after another woman went public. She says she is opening up now because “it’s the right thing to do” and “it's time now that my voice be added and to finally pull the curtain back from this dark moment in my life.”
Despite pockets of support, the tide of public opinion is turning even further against Cosby these days. In the wake of a reported 1200 ticket refund requests for his show in Denver, Billboard is reporting that Cosby has postponed his February 12th show at Bakersfield, Calif.'s Fox Theater and has not set a new date for the performance. Call it a wild guess, but don't hold your breath waiting for him to reschedule.
[via Buzzfeed]
