Name: Linda Kirkpatrick

Age: 58 

Occupation: former administrative assistant, entrepreneur

Year of Alleged Assault by Bill Cosby: 1981

Kirkpatrick played against Cosby in a mixed-doubles tennis tournament in Las Vegas. The comedian made a wager: If Kirkpatrick and her partner beat Cosby and his partner, Cosby would give them free tickets to his show. Kirkpatrick and her partner won. Her tennis partner was unavailable, so Kirkpatrick went to the show alone and was escorted to Cosby’s dressing room. He handed her a glass filled with a clear liquid and what appeared to be fruit at the bottom; she drank about half of it. Her memory of the rest of the night is a blur, but some moments stuck with her: Cosby on top of her, trying to kiss her; Cosby wearing a silver bracelet with his wife’s name on it. She doesn’t remember how she got home. Cosby called the tennis club to apologize for his behavior, and offered to make it up to her. Kirkpatrick accepted his apology and went to his hotel in promise of receiving a front-row seat to his show. Again, Cosby tried to force himself on her. She pushed him away, and left. She came forward in January 2015. “I didn’t come forward before. I was a coward. I felt, at 25, if I revealed what a big celebrity with a seemingly family-oriented persona had done, that I’d be called a liar, like many of the victims have been. I was afraid and I was embarrassed.”

Photo: Amanda Demme