SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Judy Huth recalled being distraught while describing an allegation that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her near a game room at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
While shedding tears, Huth testified in a civil trial against Cosby on Tuesday that he molested her when she was 16. She claims Cosby tried to put his hand down her tight pants, exposed himself before he forced Huth to touch him sexually on a bed in a “blue room,” which she says was adjacent to the game room.
“He forced himself on me,” recalled Huth, whose testimony came in the Los Angeles County trial over a lawsuit she filed. Cosby denies her allegations.
“I was shocked to say the least,” she said.
Huth, 64, said the incident happened after she and her high school friend, Donna Samuelson, accompanied Cosby on a visit to the mansion. She said he gave them a tour of the mansion and game room before they played some games including Donkey Kong, and she went to the restroom. She then said Cosby forced her to perform a sex act in the bedroom.
The trial represents one of the last remaining legal claims against Cosby after his Pennsylvania criminal conviction was thrown out by an appeals court last year, and his insurer settled many other lawsuits against his will. He is not attending the trial, and will not testify, but parts of a video deposition he gave shortly after the 2014 lawsuit was filed will be played.
During Huth’s testimony, she said Cosby kept pursuing her after she told him that she was “15 or 16” years old. She claims to have told Cosby that she was on her menstrual cycle – even though she was not – in hopes that he would stop.
“I was trying to deflect,” she said. “But he didn’t stop. I just closed my eyes. … It was so fast. Maybe five minutes. Quick.”
Afterwards, Huth said Cosby walked out the room before she ultimately followed him to the grotto area of the mansion, where both took a photo – which was shown in court. As Huth looked at the photo, she said felt “mad, duped and foolish.”
“I felt let down. I was hurt,” she said. The photo - which has been shown to jurors several times - has Cosby wearing a red beanie and smiling next to the teenage Huth.
During cross examination, Cosby’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean accused Huth of being a liar several times for delivering two versions of her story. The initial lawsuit filed in 2014 alleged that the incident took place in late 1973 or 1974, when Huth was 15 and Samuelson 16.
A few weeks before the trial began, Huth and her attorneys said that further investigation of the evidence allowed them to determine that it actually happened in the spring of 1975, when Huth was 16 and Samuelson 17.
Bonjean accused Huth of comparing stories with Samuelson before she spoke with the Los Angeles Police Department in 2016. Huth refuted Bonjean’s claim.
“You lied about the date, the year this happened and your age,” Bonjean said.
Huth said she wanted to leave the mansion. However, she said she elected to stay because there was no other transportation out of Samuelson, who drove and wasn't ready to leave.
Huth said the alleged incident with Cosby was still on her mind. But since Cosby left for an event and both stayed, they changed into their swimsuits and took a swim before playing backgammon with a couple women. She says one of the women wearing a purple robe was accompanied by actor Peter Lawford.
Bonjean said that’s when Huth lied about her age to the women, telling them she was 19.
“You misrepresented your age,” Cosby’s attorney said.
Bonjean said Huth is now telling her side of the story because of monetary reasons. But Huth refuted that theory, saying she didn't tell anyone - including her father - about the alleged sexual abuse for years until she saw other women step forward with their story and her son's 15th birthday, which she says “triggered” her.
“I went back to being irritable,” she said. “I went back to blaming myself. I became a loner.”
The Associated Press does not normally name people who say they have been sexually abused, unless they come forward publicly, as Huth has.
