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Cook with a Mouth
Survivor: Barbara Bowman thought Bill Cosby was a god, and the opportunity to have him mentor her a dream come true. Little did she know that he was the devil in disguise
EXCLUSIVE 'Bill Cosby threw me down on his bed and pinned me by my neck. I'll never forget the sound of the clinking of his belt buckle': Actress bravely reveals harrowing years of rape at hands of TV legend
- Barbara Bowman was 17-year-old aspiring actress when Bill Cosby took her under his wing
- In an interview with MailOnline, she relived her ordeal at the hands of Cosby who took advantage of her youth
- 'He went after me in that hotel room like an animal with such force that he couldn't control himself,' she said
- Bowman was elated when Hannibal Buress called Cosby a rapist on st
When comedian Hannibal Buress delivered his recent merciless tongue-lashing at Bill Cosby, calling him a serial 'rapist', there was one woman who was paying particularly close attention.
When Barbara Bowman was a teenager she was emotionally and sexually abused by the TV star and in an exclusive interview with MailOnline she describes in chilling detail how Cosby manipulated her into believing he was a father figure and took advantage of her youth, vulnerability and yes, even ambition, to have his way with her over and over again.
'I was drugged and raped by that man,' she tells MailOnline. 'He is a monster. He came at me like a monster. My hope is that others who have experienced sexual abuse will not be intimidated into silence by the famous, rich and powerful. If I can help one victim, then I've done my job.'
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Rising star: Raised in Denver from age nine by her mother, Barbara soon began studying acting and modeling. By 13, she became a client of Denver's top agency at the time
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Daddy dearest: Cosby called the shots with Barbara. He convinced her that he was a father figure
Raised in Denver from age nine by her mother, Barbara soon began studying acting and modeling. By 13, she became a client of J.F. Images, Denver's top agency at the time.
What began as a dream in 1985 with a private 'audition' for Cosby ended two years later in screams for help while being pinned down to the comic's hotel bed.
Barbara, now 47, says it's time to end her code of silence — a silence that at least 13 other victims have followed — spanning three decades.
'I'm finally revealing all of my full story in hopes that others will learn to read the tell-tale signs of abuse and not wait as long as I did. No one believed me for years. They said Bill would never do that. That it was preposterous. But I'm putting my name out there and standing behind these words, just like Burress. No more code of silence.'
Now, 25 years after the multiple incidents of drugging, sexual assault, and even rape at the hands of the now 77-year-old Cosby, Barbara said: 'I've been silent too long. It's time to raise a fuss. I'm a real person that this happened to. And it's taken decades to get over what he did to me.
'I thank Hannibal Burress for speaking out over and over again, despite the threats from the Industry that it could ruin his career. He is standing up for me and the other women who are too afraid to speak out.
Pioneer: The Cosby Show was hailed as a ground-breaking show for its depiction of a normal middle class African American family, the Huxtables Starring along with Cosby, left to right, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Tempestt Bledsoe, Phylicia Rashad as wife Clair and Lisa Bonet
'And the timing couldn't be better. It sickens me to think he'll be on TV again, playing a father, no less.'
Barbara's fear is that her perpetrator will actually hit the NBC airwaves again, as soon as next summer in a new sitcom, playing a patriarchal father figure, just like he played the quintessential family man Dr Cliff Huxtable on The Bill Cosby Show in the 1980s.
'Maybe he should also teach his fictitious TV family how to escape the talons of sexual predators. Bill used to tell me that he was my father figure and that I needed to trust him as a father, 100 percent. Then he'd drug me and attack me. I was to afraid to talk back.
He told me over and over again, "Trust me like I was your father"
- Barbara Bowman
'He told me over and over again, "Trust me like I was your father." He zeroed in on that like a laser beam.'
While other victims were allegedly given hush money to prevent them from going public with their accusations, and another settled after filing a court case against Cosby, Barbara is free to speak out.
'I never took shut up money. My motivation to speak now is to expose Bill Cosby as the animal that he is. He went after me in that hotel room like an animal with such sexual prowess and force that he couldn't control himself. And at 19-years-old, I knew it would be the last time he would ever get the chance to hurt me this way again.'
It all began in 1985. The fresh-faced 17-year-old was invited to meet The Coz, as he was known in comedy circles, behind the closed doors of an empty conference room in the back of the Turn of the Century Nightclub in Denver, Colorado.
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Animal: 'I was drugged and raped by that man,' Barbara told MailOnline. 'He is a monster. He came at me like a monster. My hope is that others who have experienced sexual abuse will not be intimidated into silence by the famous, rich and powerful. If I can help one victim, then I've done my job'
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Up in smoke: Cosby hangs out with his arm around his wife, Camille Hanks, at a Four Tops concert at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in LA. He often left her at home when he went carousing
'I was studying acting when my agent told me Mr Cosby was scouting for young talent and that I'd have a shot to be groomed by him personally. I was eager to please. This could be my big break.
'The first thing Mr. Cosby said when he met me in the conference room was, "I want you to go in the bathroom and wet your hair…then sit in this chair, shut your eyes and do an improvisation exercise with me."
'He wanted me to act completely drunk, wasted, while he stood behind me and stroked my neck and upper chest. He didn't touch me beyond that, on that day, but that's where it certainly started.
He wanted me to act completely drunk, wasted, while he stood behind me and stroked my neck and upper chest
'Even though it felt off to do the exercise, I gave it my all. I'd learned from years of acting classes that I had to take direction. After all, I was in the presence of the most powerful man in America at that time. Dr Huxtable chose me!'
Barbara admits to being scared while with Cosby but she also had strong desires to 'make my way up the ladder. Whenever he'd be in Denver for work, he'd make it a point to meet me, give me acting lessons, and eventually this lead to him flying me all over the country to join him.
'He flew me to Lake Tahoe to attend the John Denver Celebrity Ski Classic. He arranged for me to see Broadway shows in New York. He brought me to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to watch him perform and attend a star-studded golf tournament. He said it was all part of his assessment to see if I was worth mentoring and grooming. He wanted to see how I handled myself around celebrities.'
But Cosby's promises to make Barbara a star, or even audition for 'The Cosby Show,' as she'd hoped, never came to fruition.
He did fly the ingenue first class.
'I got the royal treatment. I'd fly to wherever he was. I was met at the baggage claim curb by his right-hand man. Then, I'd be handed off to Bill's bodyguard, who would take care of me until Bill was ready to see me. I was always met by one of his men. I was never alone.
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Ulterior motive: Barbara says that Cosby befriended her mother and grandparents, and even flew them to Broadway shows, complete with limousines, so that he could get away with his sexual violations
'Soon, the clandestine meetings became routine. Barbara would arrive at Bill's hotel, check into her own room, see Cosby perform on stage, and then wait for the star in his green room.
'He started working on my head right away. He knew I had no father figure in my life. He knew that. yes, I was an independent girl, but he knew I was vulnerable and alone inside. He coerced and manipulated me into trusting him. He insisted I give into him 100 percent.'
Barbara said that because Cosby befriended her mother and grandparents, and even flew mom and daughter to Broadway shows, complete with limo treatment and all so that he could get away with his sexual violations.
'He was Dr Huxtable. Everybody loved him,' Barbara's mother Pat Hubbard told MailOnline.
'No one was looking over my shoulder. Or his,' Barbara added. 'He told me over and over again, "Trust me like I was your father."
'He zeroed in on that like a laser beam.'My mother totally trusted him, too. She would have never let me into dangerous hands. She sent me off with her blessings. She wanted me to have these opportunities.'
Now, in retrospect, Barbara believes this was all part of Cosby's plan — to 'gain my mother's trust so that she wouldn't butt in and get in the way.'By the time I was drugged and raped by him in New York, he'd already broken me down, brainwashed me and made me feel like there was something wrong with me if I resisted his sexual advances.
'Bill would say that he needed to guide me, and that I must trust him. When he'd fill me in on my next itinerary to meet him, he would say, "You're not going to fight me this time, are you?" He'd remind me that if I was going to be a successful actress, I'd have to break down my barriers and "learn to be vulnerable."
'I knew something was wrong, that this was a twisted situation, but if I resisted, I was failing him and failing my good fortune. He was a pot of gold and I needed to take good care of it.'