Long before allegations against Harvey Weinstein surfaced last October, Bill Cosby faced accusations of sexual assault from more than 50 women. The woman who played his oldest daughter on The Cosby Show never spoke about it until now, a full three years after his behavior first made headlines.
Lisa Bonet played Denise Huxtable for seven of the sitcom’s eight seasons. In an interview published Friday in Net-a-Porter, she was asked whether she saw any indications of his alleged misbehavior. The 50-year-old said that she “always” saw darkness in the once beloved comedian.
Cosby, 80, was accused of sexual assault and battery, the drugging of women and engaging in sexual abuse with a child. Through his representatives, he has repeatedly denied the accusations made against him.
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“There was no knowledge on my part about his specific actions,” said Bonet, who is the mother of Big Little Lies star Zoe Kraviz. “There was just energy. And that type of sinister, shadow energy cannot be concealed. And if I had anything more to reveal then, it would have happened a long time ago. That’s my nature. The truth will set you free.”
Bonet still has fond memories of the show, but she did recall the occasions where she and Cosby butted heads over projects outside of the wholesome TV show, including a topless photo shoot with Interview magazine and a nude sex scene with Mickey Rourke in Angel Heart. “I don’t need to say, ‘I told you so,'” Bonet said in the interview. “I just leave all that to karma and justice and what will be.”
Stacey Dash, who played Denise Huxtable’s friend on The Cosby Show, came to the comedian’s support in 2014, via Twitter, after the first round of accusations surfaced. “I worked with @BillCosby in ’86 when I was 19. We were alone together many times. He was a perfect gentleman & became a mentor to me.”
Dash, 51, has since retracted her initial statement, despite the fact that, as she wrote in her memoir, There Goes My Social Life, he “represented something amazing” to her at a young age. In a complete about-face, in a 2015 essay in Patheos, she declared that Cosby’s “evil, terrible [and] unspeakable acts” can’t be ignored.
Cosby is expected to face a retrial on April 2. His legal team is currently working to limit the number of accusers allowed to testify before the court. When Cosby first appeared in court last June, a judge ruled the case a mistrial after jurors couldn’t reach a verdict.
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