Bill Cosby’s retrial has already been eventful, with former child actress Nicolle Rochelle staging a topless protest on the first day and Cosby’s attorney Tom Mesereau going on the attack against the comedian’s accusers on the second day. Today, one of those accusers had a chance to take the stand and tell her side of the story, with Janice Dickinson sharing what Deadline says was “the most contentious testimony” of the retrial so far. In 2014, the supermodel claimed Cosby had sexually assaulted her in 1982, saying he had drugged her one evening after they had eaten dinner together.
Dickinson repeated that story during the trial today, with Mesereau—who got Michael Jackson acquitted of child molestation charges—challenging her account by bringing up her 2002 memoir, No Lifeguard On Duty. He pointed out that her book doesn’t mention the alleged assault, even though it does mention the night she says it happened, implying that she made up the story. Dickinson explained that the book had originally mentioned the alleged assault, but her publisher and ghostwriter both recommended omitting it “to avoid issues with Cosby’s legal team.” She added that the story in the book is “a fabrication” and that she just “wanted the paycheck.”
Mesereau latched on to that, repeatedly asking “So you made things up to get a paycheck?” and later accusing Dickinson of spreading a rumor that she was pregnant with Sylvester Stallone’s child. She responded, “I was pregnant. I had sex with two men that month. He wasn’t the only contender.” She went on to note that he had stayed with her throughout the pregnancy, until a DNA test proved Stallone wasn’t the father and she promptly informed him that it wasn’t his child—“thank God,” she added.
Only one of Cosby’s accusers had been permitted to speak in his initial trial, but in an attempt to avoid another hung jury, the judge has agreed to open the retrial up to more witnesses—including five of Cosby’s accusers.