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In an effort to reclaim his reputation amid widening sex-assault charges, Bill Cosby has filed a defamation suit against model Beverly Johnson, who “accused the entertainer of drugging her,” reports The New York Times.

The move comes just days after he countersued seven other women who accused him of sexual assault and defamation, the report notes. Cosby sued them for defamation and denied their claims.

From The New York Times:

The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in California, calls accusations by Ms. Johnson “false, malicious, opportunistic and defamatory” and says she made them in an “attempt to revive her flagging career.”

In a statement, Mr. Cosby’s lawyer, Monique Pressley, said, “Mr. Cosby states that he never drugged defendant and her story is a lie.”

The lawsuit contends that a chapter in Ms. Johnson’s memoir, “The Face That Changed It All,” which was published in August, focused on a “false account” regarding her interactions with Mr. Cosby that included her accusation that he drugged her. Mr. Cosby’s suit seeks an injunction to remove the chapter about him.

Johnson accused Cosby of drugging her coffee during a visit to his New York home in the mid-1980s, during which she read for a small part in The Cosby Show.

SOURCE: The New York Times | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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