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For Beverly Johnson, her story is 'bigger than Bill Cosby.'
The stunning supermodel, 62, says she added her voice to that of some 20 other women who have accused the disgraced 77-year-old comedian of lecherous conduct to encourage other sexual assault survivors to step out of the shadows.
Johnson, the first black model to make the cover of Vogue in the U.S., wrote a lengthy piece in Vanity Fair published online Thursday that detailed a scary run-in with America's Dad in the mid-'80s at Cosby's Manhattan brownstone.
'This is bigger than Bill Cosby,' Johnson said in an interview aired on Friday morning's 'Today' show. 'This is about women and violence against women, women finding their voice. I feel that Cosby took my power that evening, and I took my power back.'
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Johnson's account mimics allegations dating to the 1960s levied by other women against Cosby: that he used drugs to incapacitate his prey before carrying out or attempting to sexually assault the women.
The still-stunning model says she was able to fight off Cosby, calling him a 'motherf----r' several times before he angrily tossed her out of the East Side home he shared with his wife, Camilla, and children.
'I just went on survival mode,' Johnson said in an interview aired on Friday morning's 'Today' show. 'I woke up the next day totally disoriented. I didn't remember exactly what happened but I was devastated and disappointed.'
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
Allegations of sexual assault against Bill Cosby first surfaced in 2005, when he was sued by Andrea Constand. That suit was settled out of case in 2006 for an undisclosed sum of money.
But Cosby's creepy past resurfaced and dogged him this year after a comedy bit ripped the fallen funnyman as being a rapist. Cosby and his attorneys have repeatedly denied the claims, though the fallout has led to cancelled comedy shows and specials.
Many of the women said they waited to speak out over fears that they wouldn't have been believed if they had accused the Emmy-winning actor decades ago, something Johnson said as well.
'At the time I felt that it would hurt my career. Most certainly he was a very powerful man,' she told the NBC morning show. 'I want to stand with these women who have come out. I want to have a platform for the one out of six women who are sexually assaulted.'
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