Actor-comedian Bill Cosby's wife Camille, who has stood by her husband in the wake of sexual assault charges, was deposed in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by seven accusers and agreed to return next month to answer even more questions under oath.
On Monday, in a conference room of a Marriott hotel in Springfield, Massachusetts, Camille, 71, was ordered to speak about her husband during a deposition connected to a defamation lawsuit filed in a federal court by seven women who allege that statements made by Bill's representatives portray them as liars, after they claimed that he drugged and/or sexually assaulted them, reports people.com.
Yet, in the over seven hours the deposition was held, just two and a half hours were actual testimony.
The remainder of the time was spent going back and forth between lawyers about what Camille could and could not say, and with two phone calls to a judge "to elicit help", said Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer for the women, in a press conference.
"I got the sense she didn't want to be there," Cammarata said. At least "a dozen" times Cosby's attorneys claimed Camille did not have to answer questions due to a rule disqualifying spouses from testifying against each other.
Attorneys for Cosby were not available for comment.
While Cammarata declined to describe what he elicited from Camille, he described the day "as fruitful in a sense and frustrating in a sense. You have to come back and start the process again."
The deposition will resume March 14, either in Springfield or Boston, Cammarata said.
