November 2002
Andrea Constand, director of operations for Temple University’s
women’s basketball team, allegedly met with Bill Cosby.
Constand claims that Cosby, who had been a member of
Temple’s track and field and football teams, assumed a role as
her mentor.
January 2004
According to Constand, she visited Cosby at his Cheltenham,
Pennsylvania, home to discuss career advice, and after
allegedly (according to a civil lawsuit she would later file)
giving her "herbal" pills to ease her anxiety, Cosby “touched her
breasts and vaginal area, rubbed his penis against her hand,
and digitally penetrated” her.
January 13, 2005
Constand, who had since moved near Toronto to study massage
therapy, accuses Cosby of "inappropriate touching" — groping
her breasts and placing her hand on his genitals — to Canadian
authorities. Cosby’s lawyer calls her allegation "utterly
preposterous" and "plainly bizarre.”
January 27, 2005
ABC News reports that the interaction between Constand and
Cosby — who is at this point cooperating with the investigation
— might have been consensual.
February 10, 2005
Tamara Green, a California lawyer, appears on the Today show
and alleges that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in the
1970s. Green tells Matt Lauer that Cosby, who had given her
pills to combat a fever, drove her to her apartment and began
“… groping me and kissing me and touching me and handling
me and … taking off my clothes.” According to Green, Cosby left
two $100 bills on her coffee table afterwards. Cosby’s lawyer
issues a statement: “Miss Green’s allegations are absolutely
false. Mr. Cosby does not know the name Tamara Green or
Tamara Lucier [her maiden name], and the incident she
describes did not happen. The fact that she may have repeated
this story to others is not corroboration.”
February 17, 2005
Citing a lack of evidence, the investigating district attorney in
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, announces he will not act
on Constand’s accusation and bring criminal charges against
Cosby.
March 8, 2005
Constand files a civil complaint against Cosby. The five-count
lawsuit charges Cosby with battery and assault, and asks for at
least $150,000 in damages. Thirteen women who allege similar
experiences as Constand and Green are mentioned in court
papers as Jane Doe witnesses.
May 2005
In Constand’s civil lawsuit, she alleges the comedian gave her
three blue pills, which he said was herbal medication. Cosby’s
lawyers, however, issue a court filing and attempt to clarify that
the comedian merely gave Constand one and a half tablets of
Benadryl.
June 2005
Jane Doe 5 goes public. Beth Ferrier claims she was in a
relationship with Cosby in the mid-1980s , one that ended when
he allegedly drugged her coffee and Ferrier woke in a car. “My
clothes were a mess. My bra was undone. My top was untucked.
And I'm sitting there going, 'Oh my God. Where am I?' What's
going on? I was so out of it. It was just awful."
February 2006
While in the midst of her civil suit, Constand sues one of
Cosby’s lawyers — and the National Enquirer — for defamation.
Cosby had spoken to the tabloid the year before, and Constand
claimed the interview defamed her as it “[intended] to or
knowing it would injure” her.
June 2006*
Philadelphia magazine interviews another witness in Constand’s
lawsuit , Barbara Bowman. “Cosby threw me on the bed and
braced his forearm against my neck and attempted to disrobe
me and himself,” she said. “I can still remember him messing
with his belt. And I was screaming and crying and yelling and
begging him to stop.”
November 2006
Cosby settles with Constand. Terms are not disclosed, and none
of the 13 other women testify.
December 2006
The following month, People magazine publishes Bowman's
account of several assaults: "It was in a hotel in Reno, claims
Bowman, that Cosby assaulted her one night in 1986. 'He took
my hand and his hand over it, and he masturbated with his
hand over my hand,' says Bowman, who, although terrified,
kept quiet about the incident and continued as Cosby's protégé
because, she says, 'Who's gonna believe this? He was a powerful
man. He was like the president.' Before long she was alone with
Cosby again in his Manhattan townhouse; she was given a glass
of red wine, and "the next thing I know, I'm sick and I'm
nauseous and I'm delusional and I'm limp and ... I can't think
straight.... And I just came to, and I'm wearing a [men's] T-
shirt that wasn't mine, and he was in a white robe.'"
That same People article reports that three of the Jane Does from
the March 2005 case accepted cash from Cosby for years, and
two others began consensual sexual relationships with Cosby.
February 2014
Katie Baker of Newsweek — Whitaker’s former employer —
interviews both Green and Bowman about the alleged assaults.
Bowman tells Baker she was disappointed in the settlement, and
Green recounts running into and accosting Cosby in Las Vegas,
yelling, “Rapist! Liar! Asshole!” While Cosby doesn’t issue a
statement regarding Bowman’s claims , his publicist responds to
Green, “This is a 10-year-old, discredited accusation that
proved to be nothing at the time, and is still nothing.”
October 16, 2014
Comedian Hannibal Buress does an extended bit about the rape
charges in Cosby's home town of Philadelphia. "Bill Cosby has
the fucking smuggest old black man public persona that I hate,"
Buress says. "Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the
’80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom .
Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby. So, brings you down a
couple notches." A clip of the set goes viral after being posted in
Philadelphia magazine .
November 10,2014
To battle the bad press, Cosby's PR team launches an online
meme generator. Twitter is immediately inundated
with references to the rape claims.
November 13, 2014
Inspired by the reactions to Buress's bit, Bowman pens an op-ed
in the Washington Post , titled "Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it
take 30 years for people to believe my story?" She notes that
"only after a man ... called Bill Cosby a rapist in a comedy act
last month did the public outcry begin in earnest."
November 15, 2014
Cosby is asked about the various charges on NPR's "Weekend
Edition" but stays silent . His lawyer later posts a statement
saying Cosby "won't dignify these allegations with any
response."
November 16, 2014
A new accuser , Joan Tarshis, alleges that Cosby drugged and
assaulted her on two occasions in 1969. "As more and more of
his rape victims have come forward, all telling similar stories,"
Tarshis says, "the time is right to join them."
November 17, 2014
Linda Joy Traitz, a former waitress at Cosby's Café Figaro,
writes a lengthy Facebook post accusing the actor of trying to
drug her in the early '70s. She says the incident occurred when
Cosby drove her home one night: "He drove out to the beach
and opened a briefcase filled with assorted drugs and kept
offering me pills 'to relax,' which I declined. He began to get
sexually aggressive and wouldn’t take ‘No’ for an answer. I
freaked out and demanded to be taken home."
November 18, 2014
On Entertainment Tonight , supermodel Janice Dickinson
becomes the latest woman to accuse Cosby of sexual abuse ,
saying the comedian drugged and raped her in 1982. She recalls
Cosby giving her wine and a pill, which he told her were for
menstrual cramps: "Before I woke up in the morning, the last
thing I remember was Bill Cosby in a patchwork robe, dropping
his robe and getting on top of me. And I remember a lot of
pain. The next morning I remember waking up with my
pajamas off and there was semen in between my legs."
Dickinson alluded to the event in her 2002 memoir, and later
told Howard Stern she was asked to change the text to show
Cosby in a better light.