WATCH: Lisa Jones was an aspiring actress who dreamed of being on The Cosby Show. She said Bill Cosby invited her to New York for an audition, but that’s not how the encounter played out. Jennifer Tryon reports.
A Canadian woman who scored an invitation to audition for Bill Cosby in the 1980s, for a role on The Cosby Show, has come forward with allegations about the star.
“It’s not just an American story. I’m a Canadian,” said Lisa Jones, who told ET Canada about her alleged encounter in an exclusive interview airing Monday night.
Jones tried to press charges against Cosby, but no one would take on her case. But she hopes sharing her story publicly will encourage other Canadian women, who might have had a similar experience with Cosby, to come forward.
“I hope that if there is any girl in Canada, that they could come and say something because there’s a relief in telling the truth.”
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The Vancouver native told ET Canada Cosby called her parents after seeing a modeling photograph of her, when she was just 17. She said he won them over and sent them gifts of thanks for eventually allowing Jones to come to New York and audition for his hit show.
She alleged she was taken directly upstairs once she arrived at the comedian’s home.
“There was nothing funny about one-on-one with Mr. Cosby. Nothing.”
She said Cosby gave her alcohol and questioned her for two hours — asking about her past, her beliefs and her aspirations in entertainment.
“Cosby was hoping that I would be more intoxicated. The drink that was with me never went unfilled,” she said. “It was always being filled. He would stand and watch while I consumed it.”
She said Cosby was disparaging toward women and she alleged he said the only way to get ahead in the entertainment industry was on the casting couch.
Cosby then made a move on her, she claimed.
“He, out of nowhere, started to walk past me and crouched in front of my knees, grabbed my legs and tried to pull them apart,” Jones recounted. “I just remember I was so shocked.”
Jones said she pushed Cosby away.
“He lost his balance,” she said. “And, at that point, you know something is not right.”
Jones said she wanted to leave but the performer, now 77, told her to wait.
She said he then threw money at her before she left his house, in a taxi.
The audition for The Cosby Show never happened and she never auditioned for anything else after that.
“For me, my dream was working as an actress, as a comedian, or anything like that was gone. It changed my career forever.”
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Cosby’s representatives didn’t respond to a Global News request for comment and have refused to speak about several allegations from women in the U.S.
Jones is not the first Canadian woman to make allegations against Cosby.
Ontario native Andrea Constand told police in 2005 the comedian assaulted her at his mansion, in Cheltenham, Penn., a year earlier.
She said he invited her home after a restaurant dinner, gave her pills for stress and tension, then helped her to a sofa when she became dizzy and sick. She recalled him touching her breast and placing her hand on his penis, and said she awoke with her clothing in disarray and bra undone. She said she drove herself home and decided not to report to police what happened due to Cosby’s fame and her position as a Temple women’s basketball administrator. Instead, she said she contacted a lawyer who deals with sexual assaults.
After a month-long investigation, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. decided there was not enough “credible and admissible evidence,” a year after the alleged crime, to prove any charges.
Cosby testified under oath in 2005 that he gave the National Enquirer an exclusive interview about looming sexual-assault accusations by a Canadian woman against him in exchange for the tabloid spiking a second accuser’s story.
Constand later sued Cosby and the Enquirer, alleging defamation. The claims were consolidated with her sexual-assault lawsuit against Cosby and were settled.
With files from Jennifer Tryon, John R. Kennedy, ET Canada and The Associated Press
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