TV daughter Lisa Bonet says Bill Cosby always had ‘sinister’ energy

“I don’t need to say ‘I told you so,” said Bonet, whose former co-stars have been supportive of Cosby

Breaking her silence about Bill Cosby’s multiple rape allegations, actress Lisa Bonet said she had no knowledge of her TV dad’s alleged actions—but always felt he had a “sinister, shadow energy [that] cannot be concealed.”

In an interview with Net-a-Porter, Bonet, 50, said she always sensed a “darkness” about Cosby, 80. She also maintained that she knew nothing outside of what has been reported about allegations that Cosby sexually assaulted up to 60 women, insisting, “If I had anything more to reveal then it would have happened a long time ago.”

Bonet, who played Denise on the historic sitcom, was fired—reportedly by Cosby—and went on to star in the spinoff “A Different World” in 1987. Bonet was ousted from the family-friendly show for appearing in a sex scene with Mickey Rourke in “Angel Heart,” according to the magazine.

“I don’t need to say, ‘I told you so’,” she said of her former boss’ precarious predicament.

“I just leave all that to karma and justice and what will be.”

Bonet is one of the only “Cosby Show” alums to speak out against Cosby’s numerous rape allegations in recent years.

One of Cosby’s most outspoken supporters has been his television wife, Phylicia Rashad, who speculated that the allegations are a concerted effort to tarnish his legacy. In 2015, Rashad, now 69, reportedly dismissed allegations levied by models Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson and praised Cosby’s wife Camille, calling her “a tough woman, a smart woman.”

“What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it’s orchestrated. I don’t know why or who’s doing it, but it’s the legacy. And it’s a legacy that is so important to the culture,” she told Showbiz 411.

Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played daughter Rudy Huxtable on the long-running sitcom, was by Cosby’s side as he arrived in court last summer. She went on to tell ABC News that the situation is “heartbreaking” but said the accusations don’t correspond with the man she grew up with.

“The man that I’ve known as a child was funny and witty and smart and philanthropic and full of advice,” the 38-year-old told the network.

“I can only go based on who I’ve experienced, and at the end of the day, it’s the court’s job to find the truth of the matter.”

In 2016, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played Theo on “The Cosby Show,” criticized the media for how they’re covering the case during an appearance of SiriusXM’s “Conversations with Maria Menounos.” According to People, Warner, now 47, accused the media of erroneously saying that all of Cosby’s accusers are claiming he raped them.

“The media has really helped make it such a big circus, and there are so many things that are thrown into the pot that things get really muddy,” Warner reportedly said.

“And there are so many levels to what’s going on that people are led to believe one thing when it’s not as black or white as people think it may be.”

It does not appear the Tempesett Bledsoe, who played Vanessa, and Sabrina Le Beauf, who played eldest sister Sondra on the show, have made public comments about the allegations.

However, Joseph C. Phillips, who played son-in-law Martin Kendall, is believed to have been the first “Cosby Show” cast member to speak out against the sitcom’s patriarch.

In a 2015 blog post entitled “Of Course Bill Cosby is Guilty!” Phillips said he was originally incredulous of the allegations against Cosby. He said his perspective changed after speaking about the allegations with an old female friend, who broke down in tears as she revealed her own troubling encounter with Cosby.

“She cursed him for violating both her trust and her body. She cursed herself for not being smarter, and for degrading herself in pursuit of success,” Phillips, now 56, recalled.

“I was also angry at myself for falling for the okey-doke, of putting Bill on a pedestal.”

Page Six reported that Cosby will be re-tried in April for allegedly drugging and molesting ex-Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home in 2004.

 

[Featured Image: Lisa Bonet/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File; Bill Cosby/Star Shooter/MediaPunch/IPX]