Kathie Lee Gifford Revisits Her Friendship With Bill Cosby: 'He Did Try to Kiss Me'

By
ETONLINE

Kathie Lee Gifford is the latest woman to share her private experience with comedian Bill Cosby.

While discussing Cosby's wife's Camille's recent statement calling her husband "a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend," despite the numerous sexual assault allegations against him, the Today show co-anchor claimed that Cosby tried to kiss her one of the last times she saw him.

"I will admit, towards the very last times I saw him, he did try to kiss me," she said on the Today show Tuesday. "I said, 'Bill, no, we're friends,' and he said, 'OK, goodnight,' and I said, 'Goodnight.' And I went to my room, and he went into his room."

"A lot of married men come onto single women,  ... but once I said, 'No, absolutely not,' he respected it," she later added.

NEWS: Bill Cosby Speaks Out, Addresses Media

Gifford explained her personal history with Cosby, serving as the opening act for the comedian for several years and traveling on the road with him. She said that he was capable of "great kindness," and recalled how he would give her and her two backup dancers money to gamble.

Though she is now looking back at her experience in a different light, specifically after reading supermodel Beverly Johnson's recent Vanity Fair story alleging the comedian drugged her.

Johnson claimed that Cosby drugged her with a cappuccino, and Gifford remembered that the comedian frequently made cappuccinos for her and her two backup dancers.

"I do know that I got a chill [reading Johnson's story], because every night when we'd come off stage and Bill would be going on-stage, he would have made cappuccinos for all three of us," she said. "And I always thought it was such a kindness and it was so sweet, and now you see Beverly Johnson saying that he made her a cappuccino, and I just don't want it to be true, but I'm not saying that the women are liars."

She stressed, "I'm just saying I never personally saw it with my own two eyes."

On Monday, Camille Cosby broke her silence on the allegations against her husband of 50 years, calling him a victim.

"There appears to be no vetting of my husband's accusers before stories are published or aired," she said. “An accusation is published, and immediately goes viral ... None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim. But the question should be asked -- who is the victim?"

NEWS: Beverly Johnson -- Bill Cosby Drugged Me

Allegations against the comedian date back to the 1960s, and several alleged victims -- including model Janice Dickinson -- spoke with ET to tell their stories.

Watch Dickson's interview below: