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Bill Cosby is facing a new lawsuit filed by five women, several of whom appeared on The Cosby Show, alleging the actor sexually assaulted them.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the plaintiffs, Lili Bernard, Eden Tirl, Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson, and Cindra Ladd, claim Cosby took advantage of them and posed as their mentor as they tried to break into Hollywood during the 1980s and 90s.
Bernard, who guest starred as Mrs. Minifield in a 1992 episode of The Cosby Show, said Cosby drugged and assaulted her on multiple occasions, per the suit. In one incident, Bernard woke up to Cosby trying to smother her with a pillow.
The lawsuit alleges that Cosby threw Bernard down a flight of stairs and threatened to destroy her if she came forward to authorities. Ultimately, Bernard said she didn't report the alleged crimes out of fear for her life, per the suit.
Tirl, who portrayed a cop on the show, claims in the suit that she was "escorted" by a Cosby employee to his dressing room where the actor touched her breasts, kissed her neck, and pressed his genitalia into her back, whispering "this is making love."
Gittens said Cosby drugged and assaulted her at his home while the two were discussing a possible role for her on the show, per the suit. According to TMZ, Thompson alleges that Cosby "forced her to masturbate him." Ladd also claims that he drugged her before raping her.
The accusations made in the new lawsuit join a myriad of claims that Cosby raped dozens of women over the years. In 2018, Cosby was handed down a 10-year sentence in Pennsylvania prison for indecent assault, but the actor was released last year because prosecutors violated an immunity deal granted by a previous district attorney.
Cosby was found liable by a California jury earlier this year in a civil case of sexually abusing a teenage girl in 1975.
Andrew Wyatt, a spokesman for Cosby, said the actor denies the new allegations and will be ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, per TMZ. The women, who Wyatt said are "all about money," filed the "frivolous" suit because they are unwilling to accept that Cosby was vindicated in his Pennsylvania case, according to the spokesman.
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