Bill Cosby 'leaked story about daughter's drug problems to bury Vegas swinging claims'

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Bill Cosby has been accused of leaking a story about his daughter’s battle with drink and drugs to bury reports about him “swinging with Sammy Davis Jr. and some showgirls in Las Vegas.”

Page Six reported claims that the National Enquirer was sold the story about the actor and comedian’s alleged partying in 1989, when The Cosby Show was topping TV ratings and its star had been crowned “America’s dad”.

A reporter who was at the Enquirer at the time claimed that when Cosby was contacted for a comment, he handed the paper a story about his daughter Erinn’s substance abuse. She was 23.

“My editor told me that daddy Cosby was the source. He ratted out his flesh and blood,” the reporter told Page Six.

In the subsequent story, he was quoted saying that the family “loved” his daughter but had to take a “very firm, very tough stand that forces her to realise that no one can fix things for her”.

But in Cosby: His Life and Times, biographer Mark Whitaker claimed the Enquirer contacted Erinn in Boston, where she was living after a five-week hospital stay and her father’s representatives “did everything they could” to keep the story out of the press.

More than a dozen women have publicly accused Cosby of sexual assaults spanning decades, which he strongly denies, and journalists and former colleagues are coming forward with unflattering allegations about the star.

His lawyer, Martin Singer, has called the growing number of allegations “unsubstantiated” and “discredited”, accusing the media of vilifying his client.

Cosby’s representatives have not commented on the latest allegations.