U.S. Comedian Bill Cosby admitted in sworn testimony a decade ago to paying women after sex to keep the affairs hidden from his wife.
The New York Times reported the revelation after obtaining a 2005 deposition Cosby gave in a lawsuit brought by a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, who alleged that Cosby tricked her into taking drugs before he sexually assaulted her.
The case was settled for an undisclosed sum of money.
According to the excerpts, Cosby said he offered to pay for Constand's education and pay another woman who he previously had a sexual relationship with.
In other parts of the deposition, Cosby described his sexual relationships with other women and suggested he was skilled in picking up the nonverbal cues that signal a woman's consent.
In excerpts of the deposition released last week, Cosby revealed that in the 1970s he obtained Quaaludes (prescription sedatives) with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with. He admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman.
Dozens of women have come forward in the past year to allege that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them in incidents dating back decades. His attorneys have consistently denied the allegations.
Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama rejected the idea of revoking Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom because of the sexual misconduct allegations
Obama told reporters there is no precedent or mechanism to take back Cosby's medal. A sexual assault awareness group has petitioned the Obama administration to revoke the medal. Its online petition had nearly 11,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
The president declined to talk about the specific allegations against Cosby; however, he said if anyone gives a drug to someone else without that other person's knowledge, and then has sex with the other person, "that's rape." He also said, "Any civilized country should have no tolerance for rape."
