Heidi Thomas Says Bill Cosby Called Himself ‘Your Friend’ During Rape

NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania—When Heidi Thomas first met Bill Cosby she was a 24-year-old starry-eyed aspiring actress who was thrilled to hear Bill Cosby wanted to mentor her.

Her agent said Cosby would call her at home in Littleton, Colorado at a prearranged time one day in 1984. She waited nervously for the call.

“The phone rings and there’s Bill Cosby on the other end,” she said on Tuesday. “It’s….this voice you heard on TV and on the comedy stuff is on the other end of my phone. He was very kind and personable. He said he was looking forward to working with my agent. He was looking forward to giving back to the industry that had given him so much.”

Over the next two hours, Thomas told a jury how Cosby turned from mentor into predator.

She was the first of five other women expected to testify at the retrial for Cosby on charges that he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand in Pennsylvania in 2004. Cosby has denied all accusations of sexual assault from more than 60 women.

Thomas said after Cosby talked to her and her parents, they made arrangements for her to see him in Reno, Nevada where he was performing at Harrah’s. Thomas said she thought she’d be staying in the hotel but when a driver picked her up at the airport on April 2, 1984, he drove her to a house far outside the outskirts of the city. CLICK FOR MORE