Hasta La Ideas

Via an exclusive interview with Chicago Sun-Times urban affairs reporter and assistant city editor Maudlyne Ihejirika, Beverly Johnson has talked for the first substantive time about the aftermath of her recent bombshell Vanity Fair essay, in which she accused Bill Cosby of drugging her.

While Johnson says she was discouraged previously about including Cosby content in her memoir, there will be no such exceptions when The Face That Changed It All finally arrives from Simon & Schuster this summer. A full chapter in the book will be devoted to Cosby:

“I’ve gotten more support than backlash,” Johnson says about the Vanity Fair piece. “I feel proud of helping create this lightning rod for a larger conversation that’s much needed in America — that whole silence on the rape culture that is here.”

Ihejiriki also asked Johnson about her thoughts on Camille Cosby’s recent public stance. The supermodel-turned-businesswoman’s latest comments come on the heels of Chelsea Handler talking to Esquire, for the magazine’s April 2015 cover story, about how she feels she evaded the dark specter of Cosby a decade ago in Atlantic City.

Johnson traveled to Chicago for this weekend’s Black Women’s Expo. Her new OWN reality TV series Beverly’s Full House debuts Tuesday.

Previously on FishbowlNY:
The 12 Days of Cosby
 
[Jacket cover courtesy: Atria Books]