Former Hollywood Exec Accuses Bill Cosby of Sexual Assault

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Bill Cosby’s list of alleged victims continues to grow.

Cindra Ladd, a former entertainment executive and wife of Hollywood producer Alan Ladd Jr., is the latest woman to publicly accuse the 77-year-old comedian of sexual assault.

In an essay published on the Huffington Post Monday, Ladd claims Cosby drugged and raped her while she was living in New York City in 1969 – the same year Cosby allegedly assaulted Joan Tarshis.

“I met Bill Cosby while working in New York for the late film producer Ray Stark,” Ladd writes. “I was a 21-year-old single woman in the world’s most exciting city. He was a 32-year-old internationally known comedian and television star, one of the most likable and popular entertainers in the business. He asked for my number and I gave it to him.”

At first, Ladd claims the relationship was purely platonic: “He was married to his current wife [Camille Cosby] and he acted like a perfect gentleman.”

But that all changed one night, when Ladd says Cosby, who has never been charged with sexual assault, gave her a strange pill he promised would help with her headache. “I asked a couple of times what it was. Each time he reassured me, asking, ‘Don’t you trust me?’ Of course I did. This was Bill Cosby,” Ladd writes.

From there, her memory of the night becomes hazy. “What I do recall, vividly and clearly, is waking up the next morning nude in the bed of his friend’s apartment and seeing Cosby wearing a white terrycloth bathrobe and acting as if there was nothing unusual.

“It was obvious to me that he had had sex with me. I was horrified, embarrassed and ashamed.”

Ladd quickly left the apartment, finally breaking down in the elevator and crying as she walked home. Like many of the other women Cosby allegedly assaulted, Ladd chose not to report the crime.

“It never occurred to me to go to the police,” she explains. “It was a different time and ‘date rape’ was a concept that didn’t exist.”

Ladd kept silent about the incident for 36 years, and says she has no plans to sue or discuss the matter any further.

“So why speak out at all and why now?” she asks in her essay. “The simple answer is that it’s the right thing to do.”

“The truth deserves to be known. As I write this, more than 20 women have come forward, many with stories that are remarkably similar to mine.”

Cosby’s attorney did not immediately respond to Ladd’s claim.

Last week, roughly 1,200 people who had bought tickets to see Cosby perform in Denver on Saturday asked the theater to refund their tickets. Those who attended the show – an audience of around 1,800 of mixed ages and genders – stood in a standing ovation, applauding loudly while Cosby offered a military salute and his thanks.

Jay Leno also spoke out in support of Cosby’s alleged victims last Wednesday, saying he does not understand why “it’s so hard to believe women.”

The comedian continues to deny the allegations and has not been charged with any crimes.

This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.com

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