Bill Cosby Paid to Keep Affairs Secret: Deposition

— -- Bill Cosby reimbursed his talent agency after it paid $5,000 to one of his mistresses in order to keep the affair a secret from his wife, according to excerpts of a deposition published by The New York Times.

The New York Times, which published the story Saturday, said it obtained a deposition from a 2005 court case in which a young woman named Andrea Constand sued Cosby, claiming he drugged her before allegedly raping her. He refuted her allegations, saying the act was consensual.

Cosby reportedly said during the deposition that he is a "pretty decent reader of people" when it comes to "romantic sexual things," and she did not say "don't ever do that again."

Cosby said he once planned to write a personal check for Constand's schooling instead of using his foundation and would explain to his wife that he did so because "there is a person I would like to help."

"My wife would not know it was because Andrea and I had had sex and that Andrea was now very, very upset and that she decided that she would like to go to school or whatever it is," he said, according to the transcript.

He also described, according to the Times, how he routed a payment to Therese Serignese through his agent. He said the agency sent her $5,000 and he reimbursed them to hide his payment to her from his wife.

The Times reported the actor also admitted under oath to obtaining quaaludes for recreational use, telling lawyers “young people were using [them] to party … I wanted to have them just in case.”

Cosby reportedly said he suspected his doctor knew he was not using them for the back pain for which they were prescribed.

The newspaper characterized Cosby as standoffish throughout the questioning, with him reportedly sparring with the attorney when pressed about why an employee quit working for him.

Cosby: “That's confidential.”
Attorney: “What do you mean it's confidential?”
Cosby: “Look it up in the dictionary.”

More than two dozen women have claimed to be sexual assault victims of Cosby and have called from him to be held responsible for his alleged actions. The nonprofit group Promoting Awareness/Victim Empowerment has also insisted President Obama revoke Cosby’s Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"There's no precedent for revoking a medal. We don't have that mechanism," the president said last week.

Cosby -- who has never been formally charged for sexual assault in connection with any of the allegations against him -- denied wrongdoing in the Constand case but settled it out of court.

"The only reason Mr. Cosby settled was because it would have been embarrassing in those days to put all those women on the stand and his family had no clue," the Cosby camp said in a statement to ABC News. "That would have been very hurtful."

According to the Times, Cosby did admit during the deposition to giving women drugs but insisted he never did so without their knowledge.

Cosby's attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment. His attorney has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.