AceShowbiz - Book publisher Judith Regan has confirmed model Janice Dickinson told her that Bill Cosby allegedly drugged and raped her in the 1980s. The model previously claimed Cosby drugged and assaulted her in Lake Tahoe, Nevada in 1982. Dickinson also alleged she told publishers about the alleged sexual assault before the release of her 2002 memoir "No Lifeguard on Duty", but they made her keep the details out of the book, because they feared legal backlash from the comedian's lawyers.

Dickinson reaffirmed her claims while testifying during Cosby's sexual assault retrial in the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania last week (ends April 13) and now Regan is backing her up. "I don't remember verbatim, but I remember at one point during the preparation of the book, (Dickinson) told me she had been raped, drugged and raped, by Bill Cosby," Regan said in court on Wednesday, April 18, according to the New York Post.

Regan went on to reveal that Janice was angry when she learned her accusations wouldn't be published, and in fact they were being removed from the book. "That story would be impossible to publish. It would require corroboration, and at that time corroboration would have meant a witness," Regan added. "In this particular incident, the legal department, not Janice Dickinson, decided it could not be accommodated."

Cosby returned to court last week to stand trial again for allegedly drugging and molesting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his home in Philadelphia in 2004. The veteran comedian's first court case ended in a mistrial in June 2017, but prosecutors vowed to retry him. The 80-year-old star has since pleaded not guilty to three charges of aggravated indecent assault.

Dickinson is one of five Cosby accusers the prosecution team has called to the stand in an attempt to show the jury an alleged pattern of behaviour.