According to New reports by CNN this morning, Thomas says she has held a secret for 30 years. Now, for the first time, she wants to be heard.
Her secret is one that may sound familiar as she adds her name to the list of more than 20 women who have spoken out to various media outlets about allegations of sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby.
Cosby's attorney has called the spate of sexual assault accusations against the comedian "ridiculous."
Meanwhile in Denver, a 24-year-old aspiring actress, then known as Heidi Johnson, was on the verge of her big break.
"My agent said, 'Well, you're tall enough and slender enough. Let's put you into modeling,'" Thomas recalls.
She was represented by JF Images, considered one of the premier modeling agencies in Denver. Its founder, Jo Farrell, had earned the nickname "Barracuda."
"I'd go into her office and your knees would shake. But then again, as a young talent trying to get started, you look at that kind of intimidation factor and you think, 'Oh, she's-- she knows what she's doing. I am in good hands here,'" Thomas says.
In 1975, the local press reported that Farrell responded to her nickname by saying, "if being a barracuda means I work very hard, protect my people and being a good businesswoman, then I accept it."
Thomas says her career was picking up in 1984, but she was questioning whether she wanted the lifestyle of a model. That's when the call came from Annie Maloney, an agent with JF Images, who told her there was a very important person in the industry who was "looking for young talent that he can mentor."
She says Maloney told her that she needed to go to Reno, Nevada, because Bill Cosby wanted to work with her -- to coach her and help her act. Maloney died in 1997.
Cosby was performing at Harrah's Hotel and Casino. Thomas says her agent told her she would be staying there and Cosby would probably be doing the coaching in his hotel suite.
Thomas' mother, Greta Lea Johnson, was concerned about her daughter going to a new city by herself.
"I'm not a hovering mother, but, of course, we had no cell phones. We had nothing that we could use to keep in contact with her ... We had no knowledge of where she would be." Looking back, Johnson says, "We were pretty naïve."Thomas says she was picked up by limousine at the airport in Reno. She questioned the driver because she remembered seeing the city lights behind her as they drove away. Thomas says she was confused because the postcard she bought at the airport showed Harrah's as being in the middle of town.
The driver told her that a friend let Cosby use their house outside Reno so "he doesn't have to deal with all of the paparazzi," Thomas says.Thomas says Cosby greeted her at the door of the sprawling house, and later, the coaching began.
She says she performed a monologue, and when she finished, Cosby asked her to do a cold read of a person who was intoxicated.
According to Thomas, Cosby wasn't impressed. Thomas wasn't much of a drinker.
"How are you ever going play an intoxicated person ... if you've never been drunk?" she says he told her.She says Cosby wanted her to relax, and he gave her a glass of Chablis.
Thomas admits that her memory of the next few hours is "foggy," but she says that at one point, he may have asked her something like, (Are you) "feeling the part now?" or "Feeling the lines now?"
Thomas says that when she woke up, Cosby was next to her in bed, naked and "forcing himself in my mouth." She says she remembers feeling like she wanted to throw up.
Soon after, Thomas says, Cosby was getting on top of her again and referring to himself in the third person.
"I'm your friend ... your friend is gonna (ejaculate) again," Thomas remembers him saying.
Rather than get angry with Cosby, Thomas says, she made excuses and asked herself, "What's happened? Why am I here? Why is he naked? What did I say? What did I do?"
Thomas says she remembers eventually storming out of the room and slamming the door, and then apologizing for being "rude." The next thing she can remember is riding with Cosby to his show. She says the rest of her memory is spotty: She recalls a cook offering her strawberries and having wine with Cosby before his show. But, she says, she doesn't remember much more from the four-day trip.
For more than 50 years, Bill Cosby has been one of America's leading entertainers: a noted comedian, an Emmy-winning actor and an innovative producer. However, his reputation has been tarnished by allegations of rape.
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