Exclusive interview with Supermodel Beverly Johnson

In 1974, then aspiring model, Beverly Johnson landed what all the other girls in the business wanted, the cover of Vogue magazine. Johnson says she was thrilled and honored to be chosen, but had no idea at the time that being the first woman of color on the cover would be a defining moment in history and in her life.

“To realize that I was the first one to be on the cover really was an awakening for me in a sense as to who I am, where I came from, my roots and it put me on journey of self-discovery actually.”

For Johnson, she says, fashion was just a twist of fate, she wanted to be a lawyer. Modeling was supposed to be a one-time summer job that turned into a career. A self described nerd, Johnson loved school, was a competitive swimmer and even as a kid put 100 percent into everything she did.

“I was born with a fire in my belly in the way of wanting to achieve and I think my parents expected that of us. My father was a steel laborer and my mother was a nurse we had very strong work ethics and i was just always trying to make them proud.”

Fast forward 41 years and Johnson has just released her Memoirs, “The face that changed it all.” The book highlights her life as a supermodel and experiences in the 70’s & 80’s. It wasn’t always a charmed life though, she talks about an eating disorder and a cocaine addiction, but she says, ultimately there were more positives than negatives including the money made from modeling.

“For me it was really about the financial gains you could have about being in this profession. And, a part of myself was opened up going to the arts and the theatre and of course all the various people I met and traveling around the world it was quite a ride.”

She’s candid in her book about an encounter with comedienne Bill Cosby that has most recently made headlines. Johnson is now one of nearly four dozen women claiming Cosby lured, drugged and attempted to have sex with her under false pretenses of a job. She wrote about it in the first draft of her memoir in 2013, but the publisher was afraid of a lawsuit and nixed that chapter. A year later women started to come forward about Cosby.

“I realized that my story and my encounter was very similar to theirs particularly the drugging part, because I was drugged by Cosby, fortunately I got out of there, I wasn’t raped. And, it was a very difficult decision to come forward again, I had already been rejected by the publisher, but I decided I needed to tell my story, I didn’t know it was going to take on the life it did, I just felt I needed to tell what happened to me.”

Johnson’s first public interview about her experience with Cosby in Vanity Fair opened the door for more women to come forward, but it wasn’t without some backlash, naysayers who questioned Johnson’s story or why she took so long to tell it.

“I think as a trail blazer you get that a lot anyways, you’re on unnavigated territory, you’re always going to have people who like you and those people that don’t this is a particularly polarizing conversation.”

“For me the fact that we’re talking about violence against women means so much more than any of the consequences that come back from backlash.”

Johnson, at 63 says this is her best decade. She spends time on the road promoting her book and making appearances, but mostly loves being with her family, including her 3 grandchildren. She moved to the desert in 2006 to pursue golf, she’s a 7 handicap, and while golf is currently on the back burner, she says retirement is not an option and has plenty of irons on the fire.

“I have a really great life here in the desert. I sit on the board of the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center for abused children. I am the international spokesperson for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. I mean I am doing a lot of things in my life that give my life so much purpose. I love waking up in the morning to see what’s going to happen and what I can do to contribute.”

In the prime of her life, Johnson shared with me that her top beauty secret, at 63 years old, is to meditate first thing in the morning to get rid of negative thoughts and to have a positive productive day.

Johnson will be honored with the “Voice of Courage” award by the Palm Springs Women in Film and Television’s Broken Glass Awards luncheon on November 10.