Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Bill Cosby verdict watch: Accuser talks to Nancy Grace

Episode Date: June 14, 2017

Carla Ferrigno is one of five dozen women who claim Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them over the past five decades. Now the wife of “Incredible Hulk” actor Lou Ferrigno, she was an 18-year-old Playboy bunny when Cosby invited her to his Los Angeles home in 1966. In this episode, Ferrigno shares her story with Nancy Grace as they wait for a jury verdict in the Cosby sex assault trial. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. the trial began. Andrea Constance says that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her January-February 2004. Cosby is charged with felony aggravated indecent assault. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Cosby has denied wrongdoing and says their encounter was consensual. Praying upon and exploiting my vulnerabilities, he then drugged and raped me. The 79-year-old has been accused by more than 50 women of drugging and or sexual misconduct. I've neverged and raped me. The 79-year-old has been accused by more than 50 women of drugging and or sexual misconduct. I've never seen anything like this. Judges only allowing one other accuser to take the stand. The comedian left court Monday night without a verdict. But with his spirits still intact. What is wrong with the Bill Cosby jury? What in the world has kept them out? You

hear somebody laughing in the background. Why don't I tell you who is with me? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. We are on a verdict watch. By the time you hear this podcast, there may be a verdict. God help us all. But joining me right now is someone that I consider a friend that I have talked to many times. You know her, Carla Ferrigno. Now, anyone in show business knows the Ferrigno name. She's beautiful. She's articulate.

She's talented. And I've got to tell you, she's married to the Hulk. There, I said it. I said it. Okay. I know it's not right. I said it. She is married to Lou Ferrigno. And in addition to being a world-class mom, and I'm looking at your photo right now. You look like you're about 25. I'm not going to go there. Oh, so sweet. Because I don't know what's wrong with me.

This is what I also know what you don't, what you may not know about Carla. Oh. Is I believe that she was a victim of Bill Cosby's. Yeah. Yes, I was. See, and people think, Carla, oh, this Andrea Constance, she's out for money. Or this one, she was like a, what was she, a model or an actress. That's all like a witch in the time of the Salem witch hunts. But when they put, people put a face to a name of somebody they kind of know, it changes everything.

I just want to kick it off like this. When did you meet Bill Cosby? Well, I was, it was 1967. I was 18 years old. Don't do the math. But I was on a date with someone who asked me to dinner who seemed like a very nice man in went to dinner. We had a lovely evening. And then he said, would you like to go with me to my best friend's house, which is, is Bill Cosby. And I, I didn't have anything to do. I'd broken up with my boyfriend. I didn't have to worry about where I was going or whatever. And I said, well, okay, yeah. All right. I didn't know. I knew Bill Cosby had a show.

I never watched the show. I knew nothing really about him at all. And I certainly didn't go there because he was a celebrity. I went because I was having a nice time with my date. So he took me over to his house in Beverly Hills. And Bill was so nice. He answered the door. Him and his wife stood right by the door.

Camille, I'll never forget her name. And we were standing by the door just talking. We were introduced. And he said, let's go to a movie. What do you think? So I said, okay. It sounded like fun to me. I was 18 years old.

I just wanted to have fun. So I went to the movies with them. It was my date, Bill, Camille, and I. And we had Cracker Jacks, and we laughed, and he played. And he acted like he was playing with a child with me. I did not sit. I sat down, and he sat next to me on the far left. My date was next to me, and his wife was way on the other end.

But we had a really fun time. And then he decided, you know, the movie was over. We were in Westwood. The movie was over. And he said, my date said to me, would you like to go back to Bill's and play pool? I was the pool bunny at the Playboy Club at 18. Can you believe this? No.

Yeah. Yeah. So I said, oh, okay. I thought, well, okay, we'll do that. I mean, they all seemed so nice. Why wouldn't I want to do this? So I said, okay, I will. So we went to his house. And the first thing he did was he walked in. He took me into the pool. We all went to the pool room. And I said, he said to me, would you like a cocktail?

And I said, no, I don't drink. And he said, okay, well, would you like some water? And I said, no, I'm just fine. And so that's how I met him. Yeah. Do you want to hear some more about what happened that night? Yes. Well, I just, I played, what he did, Bill had this idea that it would be fun if he played with my date and that whoever won could play with me. And we're getting on around 11, 12.

Well, what is the game? The game was, it was just a game of pool. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, we were playing pool. And so he played first with my date. And then guess who won? Bill won. And he said, okay, well, now I play with Carla. Now it's getting on to be around midnight. It's getting late. And I picked up the pool, Hugh, and I'm playing. And suddenly I looked up and I said, where did your wife go?

And he goes, oh, she probably went to bed. I said, oh, okay. And then I shot another thing and I'm doing good at this game. And then I look up and I go, well, okay. And then I shot another thing, and I'm doing good at this game. And then I look up, and I go, well, where's my date? And he goes, oh, I don't know. He probably went to the bathroom or something. And so we played the game. We did it.

He beat me. And I took my pool cue, and my back was to him. And I turned around, and I put it on the table and when I turned back around he lunged me he just lunged right I mean just on me he jumped me and I was in shock and I I pushed him like with all the strength I had. I tried, and then he grabbed me, and he kissed me right in the mouth. And I just, I kicked, I pushed away from him. And I got away from him, and I was like, oh. And I mean, it was so awful. And then I looked up, and those eyes, he looked like the devil.

He didn't look like the fun, happy guy anymore. He looked like the devil. He didn't look like the fun, happy guy anymore. He looked like the devil. And I said, for a second, I sat there for a second, and I looked at him. And I was a tough girl. I grew up, but in those days, I was a tough street girl. I knew how to take care of myself, and men were always trying to molest me. My whole life ever since I was like five years old said I always got away so I took I started running down the

hallway he lived in a very large house on the flats of Beverly Hills and I went running down the hallway and just as I'm running down the hallway who comes out of a door? My date. So I looked at my date and I said, I'm leaving. I want you to take me home now, right now. And he did. And I never even talked to him about it. I just went completely silent, got in the car. He took me and dropped me off. And that was that. So that was my experience. And I got away. and out of the supposedly 65 women that have come forward or I don't know how many I think it was that but they they I I just I just got away I there was no way and the reason I got away was because I didn't I didn't drink anything was one of the main reasons that I made it through this. You know, when you say that the

reason you got away is because you didn't drink anything. What do you mean by that, Carla? What I meant by that was, is that I didn't drink alcohol. I came from a family of alcoholics and I didn't live like that. I wouldn't drink. I wouldn't do drugs. I was totally clean. I didn't have sex with men. I was a young girl, but tough, and I could take care of myself. And he didn't give me anything that would have done what I've heard happened with these other women. 27 women for eight hours and all of us crying our hearts out just their stories were so tragic and it ruined so many lives and i i i was the one who got away i do i don't think anybody else got away even even beverly johnson she had to fight him off because he had given her drugs you know what's interesting that camille was there and you know what god bless her you know she she's i don't know what to think about that what she must i don't feel like that about her at all i don't know i don't i don't know what to think but this is what i'm hearing from you she's down there and just disappears when When you have guests over, even if you're saying, look, guys, you're staying up too late for me.

I'm going to go to bed. Good night. Thank you for coming. She just disappeared, like your date. That's right. And you know what was really, really tragic was that when I was on Dateline, that woman that was the host, I don't even remember who she was, but I'd never seen her before, and I haven't seen her since. But anyway, she would not let me talk.

Out of all the women, I got to sit in the front row, but I wasn't allowed to talk. She would not listen to anything I said. So by the end of the show, after eight hours, we were all exhausted. And I said to her, I said, I'm going to talk. She said, what do you think about, and she asked the whole group, what do you think about his wife? And I raised my hand and I said, I'm going to talk now. I said, I'm going to ask a question. That's all I want to do is ask one question. to everybody, how many of you would let your husband stay at midnight with a young, pretty girl?

And every one of them said, none of us. I mean, they were all like, no, we wouldn't. No, it caused a whole big stir. But it was true. You know what, you're right, Carla. You're right. I hadn't thought of it that way. I've just been thinking about her in the context of, wow, she's been married to this guy that has had so many affairs, slept with so many people.

And now we learn forced himself on so many people. And it must be horrible and humiliating. But when I hear you say it like that, it puts it in a whole other light. Nancy, listen to this one. Here's what I was thinking of. I was thinking of trying to think back on the women and one in particular that I liked so much. And she and I spent some time together. She was a young, beautiful model. And she was, you know, you may have known who she was or who.

I didn't. But when I met her, it was a lovely time because she, I was trying to think of what it would have been like to be her. He called her on a Christmas, at Christmas, and said, can you fly here to Connecticut to be with my family for Christmas and me. And she gets there and she's at the dinner table with all of his children and his wife. And then she would go out to the guest room where she was staying. She had a different little place in the back. And apparently he was coming back there like two nights in a row to have sex with her and raping her now can you imagine she's invited as a guest i mean after the first time i don't know why she was still there talking about you're talking about sarita butterfield she was a playmate a model and she recounted how cosby invited her to his country house, and she's in the guest house, yards from his wife. And she kept saying, your family is here.

Don't do this. Your family is here. Yep. And what was his wife doing? What was she thinking? He's not in bed with her. He's not.'s not in bed with her he's not where is he at it made two could have been 12 1 2 whatever but he wasn't there so wasn't she thinking of anything like this like and what was that girl doing at the time right what was she doing i mean really

think about it what was she doing there except that Bill brought her there to abuse her? And what did the family think she was doing there? I mean, what did his wife think? She knew. That's why. Because she knew what he was doing. And it was all, she just went along with it. I don't know if it was the lifestyle.

I don't know if it was her, maybe it was the, she just went along with it. I don't know if it was the lifestyle. I don't know if it was her, maybe it was the way she grew up. Maybe she was molested and didn't think much of it. I don't know. But something, there was, all I know is that she knew everything that was going on. Listen, I've been married 38 years. I know what my husband does all the time. I make sure I know. Hold on. I'm going to pause just a moment and thank someone very special for making today's podcast possible. Our partner, our sponsor, Blue Apron, the number

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Peach honey glazed chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, collard greens, and Thai basil. Whoa. Blue Apron, thank you for making this podcast and so many others possible. Okay, back to the story. Carla, what took you so long to tell your husband what happened? Well, you know what? I never told my husband a lot of things. I didn't tell my husband or my mother or my sisters or anybody else

when the people since I was five tried to molest me. I was on a train, a man, he was one of the conductors or whatever he was on that train. I mean, he tried to put his hands in my panties when I was asleep on the train. And I knew, I knew my mother. Oh, at five years old I knew my mother my mother would have killed him and I never told her ever in her life did I tell her that story I knew that if I told him her like I kept turning over and moving and making sure that he didn't get close to me and he finally went away but I knew that if I told my mother, she would kill him. She was a violent woman. She was tough and hard as nails. And I knew she would kill him. What took you so long to tell

Lou? This, you know, it's not uncommon. In fact, it's very common. Some, sometimes sex attack victims never tell. They don't want to talk about it. I didn't want to. You know what, with me, it was so many people this happened with that I had no desire to talk about it. There was nothing I wanted to say, so I let it go. You know, the truth is I never even thought about it all through those years except when I met Lou and we went to some events

and I saw him come in at one of the celebrity events and I just said I want to stay on the other side of the room. That's the only thing I said. And that was probably in 80. And I finally told. And that was because I saw that Bill Cosby had done this with this girl. And it's this one, I think it is, too. The one that, yeah, it is.

It's her. That when it came out and then she got money from him, he gave her money for it. And that's when he said that, oh, I remember with all the stuff that went on. I didn't tell anything to anybody until I told Lou. And I said to him, I told him, and he looked at me. And he just went, uh-huh. And he walked away. He cannot stand to

hear anything bad about me i've got to tell you something i'm gonna i can't quite verbalize it but crime victims violent crime victims sex crime victims can go their whole life and never tell anybody what happened. You don't want to think about it. It's so upsetting. You don't want to rethink the details. You want to forget it. You want to pretend it never happened. It's painful.

It's upsetting. And when you think about it and have to talk about it it's like it's happened all over again and it can mess your head up for who knows how long and throw you into a depression that you can't get out of and i know what i'm talking about on this. Oh, I know. I know you do. And I really can't describe it. And people like jurors, um, uh, defense lawyers, other people that are not in the business or have not been a victim or a sex molestation victim. It does. I get it. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense that you don't talk about it or tell anybody about it but it's embarrassing it's such a personal thing it's just just don't want to talk

about it no i i never i never wanted to there was nothing to talk about and then as the years went by and all this stuff happened to me over and over with different men and places I worked and things like that. But what got it for me was when I heard about this woman, I thought, oh, my God, I've got to tell somebody. And I told Lou. And I never told another person, not until, what, three years ago now, when those two women came out and were crying on John and Ken's show. They were crying their hearts out. And that's what did it for me. I said, that's it.

I am going to call somebody. I have to talk about this. Lou was out of town. I'm like, I've got to talk because I've got to help these women. Because I knew right that second that what I was hearing from them, nobody would ever believe it. Carla, you know what's upsetting with me is Carla Ferrigno, who was, I think, one of the early-on victims of Bill Cosby. Oh, yeah, I was.

You know what is so disheartening about this? This, with Andrew Konstat, may be the only criminal prosecution that will ever be. Because so much time has passed. And if it doesn't happen now, it will never happen and he will go free. It's just that simple. It's heartbreaking. You know what? This is what I'm praying for tonight.

I am praying for a true verdict, a verdict that speaks the truth. Whether they give him jail time, whether, God forbid, they give him probation, whether his wife ever knows the truth or admits the truth, I want a verdict that speaks the truth to give peace to all the women that I believe were victims of Bill Cosby. That's what I'm praying for. Carla Ferrigno. Thank you. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.