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Bill Cosby's Latest Accuser: Supermodel Beverly Johnson

Former supermodel Beverly Johnson has become the most famous person yet to accuse comedy legend Bill Cosby of drugging her.

Johnson, the first black woman featured on the cover of Vogue, told ABC News that it happened in the 1980s, and that she knew she had been drugged the moment she drank the coffee offered by Cosby.

"I was woozy; my speech was slurred," she said. "I knew that I was in danger."

She says she confronted Cosby and that he shoved her into a taxi. NPR's Eric Deggans tells our Newscast unit that "her story is similar to accusations made by more than 20 other women, some of whom claim Cosby also raped them."

On NBC today, Johnson said: "This is bigger than Bill Cosby. This is about women and violence against women. This is about women finding their voice. I feel that Cosby took my power that evening and that I took my power back."

Cosby has not responded to Johnson's allegations, which were also detailed in an article published Thursday in Vanity Fair.

The accusations come days after the Los Angeles Police Department said it will investigate claims by a woman who says Cosby molested her in the 1970s when she was 15. Cosby's attorney called Judy Huth's allegation "absolutely false." Earlier this week, a woman who accused Cosby of sexual assault sued him for defamation in Massachusetts for calling her a liar.

The allegations against Cosby began after a column in the Washington Post by Barbara Bowman, who said the comedian drugged and raped her in 1985, when she was 17. In an interview with NPR last month, Cosby declined to comment on the allegations.

As we previously reported, NBC and Netflix have shelved Cosby projects; TV Land stopped running old episodes of The Cosby Show. Cosby also resigned from the board of trustees at Temple University, and the U.S. Navy revoked his honorary title of chief petty officer.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.