On Thursday, disgraced comedian Bill Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in 2004.
And following the guilty verdict, one of Cosby’s other female accusers has recalled harrowing details of her own experiences with the 80-year-old entertainer.
In an interview on Friday’s The Project, Patricia Steuer, 61, claimed she was drugged and assaulted by Cosby on two separate occasions, leaving her feeling ‘ashamed’ and ‘angry’.
‘I had been penetrated by someone in the course of the night’: Bill Cosby accuser Patricia Steuer (pictured) claimed in an Australian TV interview on Friday that the disgraced comedian drugged and assaulted her TWICE as she recalls harrowing details of the assaults
Speaking with The Project’s host Lisa Wilkinson via video link from the United States, Steuer told how she first met the comedian back in 1978 as a young graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
She recalled: ‘I heard him speak at an event, and was really impressed. The next day I saw him, and I went over to shake his hand and congratulate him about his speech, so that’s how I met him. He invited me to have a drink with him, found out I was a singer, and offered to mentor me in a singing career.’
A few weeks later, Steuer alleges Cosby invited her to a ‘dinner party’ at his family home, but upon arrival found the comedian was at the house alone.
Candid interview: Speaking with The Project’s host Lisa Wilkinson via video link from the United States, Steuer told how she first met Bill Cosby back in 1978 as a young graduate
She described herself as ‘a little alarmed’ but thought at the time: ‘He has a very good reputation, he’s trustworthy, he is a father, he is a husband.’
Steuer claims Cosby fixed her a drink in another room, before encouraging her to take sips as he led her in an ‘acting improvisation exercise’.
‘About three quarters of the way into the cocktail I started having trouble speaking and walking, and the next thing I remember I was waking up several hours later, around 2am… He was standing over me in a bathrobe, I was naked’, Steuer recalled.
Hard-hitting: Steuer spoke with The Project’s host Lisa Wilkinson in the emotional interview
Allegations: Steuer claims she first met Cosby in 1978, the same year she alleges he drugged and assaulted her (Cosby pictured in the 1970s)
Cosby allegedly told her she had thrown up and passed out in his guest room, and it never occurred to Steuer to question him.
She says at the time she felt ‘ashamed’ of the behaviour, and never expected to hear from the entertainer again.
However, a year-and-a-half later Cosby got back in touch, inviting her to a taping of a show in Atlantic City, where Steuer claims a second assault took place.
She told Wilkinson: ‘After the show, Mr Cosby invited me to come to his penthouse suite at the casino. At the door he said, “If you want to spend time with me speaking about your career tonight, you have to take these two pills”. And he wouldn’t let me in the room unless I took the two pills.’
Steuer stated that she wanted to talk with Cosby ‘because he was still holding out carrots, in a way, about film roles’.
‘So I took the pills, much to my regret,’ she told Wilkinson.
Public downfall: Steuer met with Cosby again in 1980, and claims she survived another drugging and sexual assault in Atlantic City (Cosby pictured in the 1970s)
Her description of the ordeal continued, as she claimed: ‘I woke up the next morning very sick to my stomach, had no memory of what had happened and I had been penetrated by someone in the course of the night and I assumed it was Mr Cosby.’
It was then, Steuer says, it dawned on her that she had been drugged by the comedian during their first encounter at his home 18 months earlier.
After getting dressed, she apparently confronted Cosby about what he had done.
‘He became very agitated, told me I was ungrateful, threw me out of his suite and never contacted me again,’ she said.
Conviction: On Thursday, Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in 2004
Steuer says she did not go to the police following the incident.
‘I told two friends and three months after the assault, I met my husband – the man who has been my husband for 38 years – and I told him. All three people advised me not to bother to go forward to the authorities because they didn’t think anyone would believe me,’ she said.
But in 2005, Steuer came forward and was ‘Jane Doe No. 4’ when Andrea Constand filed a civil suit against Cosby for the 2004 sexual assault on her in his home.
Shock: When asked by Wilkinson how she felt knowing that other people had gone through similar ordeals with Cosby, Steuer stated: ‘(I was) amazed that he was still active in some way preying upon women that many years later’
When asked by Wilkinson how she felt knowing that other people had gone through similar ordeals with Cosby, Steuer said: ‘(I was) amazed that he was still active in some way preying upon women that many years later.’
Addressing Thursday’s guilty verdict, Steuer said: ‘I felt huge relief, joy for Andrea Constand because of her perseverance and her courage and her inspiration and her leadership.’
Ending the interview with a message to survivors of sexual assault, the Cosby accuser added: ‘I sincerely hope that women will continue to come forward – especially those who have been afraid, or reluctant to do so.
‘You are not alone anymore. None of you are alone. We have been on this road ahead of you. It does take courage. But we’ve paved a path for you, so please don’t stay silent about this anymore’.
Cosby’s legal team strenuously deny the claims, and have said that he will appeal Thursday’s convictions of sexual assault against Constand.
‘You are not alone anymore’: Steuer encouraged sexual assault survivors to speak up