ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bill Cosby, TV's most beloved family man, acknowledged in a television interview Monday night that he had an affair with the mother of a 22-year-old who claims to be his illegitimate daughter.
Cosby denied to Dan Rather on ``The CBS Evening News'' that he is the father of the young woman, Autumn Jackson. But in a portion airing Sunday on ``60 Minutes,'' Rather asked if there was a possibility he could be.
``There is a possibility,'' Cosby said in a transcript. ``If you said, `Did you make love to the woman?' the answer is yes. `Are you the father?' No.''
``On the birth certificate, it's not my name,'' Cosby explained in part of the interview. ``I had not spoken to the mother during her pregnancy nor her delivery nor some 14 months until we finally spoke.''
``Never - she never called me and then one day when I called her for a second rendezvous, she came and she made the announcement.''
Cosby, who has been married to his wife, Camille, for 33 years, went back to work Monday on his CBS show ``Cosby'' for the first time since the Jan. 16 slaying of his 27-year-old son Ennis. He entered the Queens studio by a back door and made no comment.
Federal prosecutors charge that on the day Ennis Cosby was shot to death changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, Jackson and Jose Medina sent a fax to Cosby's representative demanding money. She and Medina were arrested in Cosby's lawyer's office after allegedly trying to negotiate a $24million payoff.
Jackson was freed from jail Monday evening after two Californians guaranteed the $250,000 bond that Magistrate Andrew Peck set as a condition for her release.
``It's nice,'' were the only words she spoke as she left U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Her lawyer, Robert Baum, described the people who guaranteed Jackson's bond, Richard Jesperson and Lois Mayfield, as ``two people who care about her, believe in her and trust in her.''
He called Cosby's acknowledgment of an affair with Jackson's mother a ``substantial change from critical comments that came from Cosby representatives earlier.''
In the past, Cosby representatives have denied that he was Jackson's father and described her as one of several young people who have received tuition aid from Cosby.
In his first interview since Ennis Cosby was slain, Cosby told Rather his life must return to normal.
``I think it's time for me to tell the people that we have to laugh - we've got to laugh,'' Cosby said. ``But I just want the people to know - those who watch me, those who are with me - it's over for looking at me to do anything but go back to that which I am.''
No arrests have been made in the slaying. Los Angeles police said they were fielding hundreds of tips.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP A painting of Ennis Cosby hangs behind Bill Cosby asby CNBhe is interviewed Sunday for CBS. color