Bill Cosby's TV wife, Phylicia Rashad speaks on abuse claims.

Bill Cosby's iconic TV wife is now speaking out about the sex abuse allegations that have dogged him since the end of 2014.

Actress Phylicia Rashad, who played the elegant, intelligent Claire Hiuxtable on The Cosby Show, spoke with Showbizz 411 during a special luncheon in honor of the film Selma on Tuesday and told a reporter that she thinks the controversy is a well-coordinated smear campaign and nothing more.

"Forget these women," she said. "What you're seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it's orchestrated. I don't know why or who's doing it, but it's the legacy. And it's a legacy that is so important to the culture ... Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV, and it's worked. All his contracts have been canceled."

Rashad scoffed at the claims of models Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson, in particular, and defended the integrity of Cosby's wife Camille, saying there's no way she simply looked the other way while her husband supposedly forced himself on scores of women.

"This is a tough woman, a smart woman. She's no pushover."

Meanwhile, Cosby has maintained his silence, even as the controversy continues to develop, but Rashad maintains that the comedy legend doesn't need to say anything.

"If he spoke now, what do you think the media would do with it?"





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