Judd Apatow: Cosby Is Personal—I Know a Victim

In a nearly 8,000-word Rolling Stone profile of "the most prominent comedy-maker of our time," Jonah Weiner asks Judd Apatow plenty of questions and Apatow gives plenty of revealing answers: about his "lowering" self-esteem, a poem he wrote at age 15 called "Divorce" that "predicts my entire life," and Jim Henson's assessment of him (funny, but "lacked warmth"). But Weiner also digs into the topic of Bill Cosby, which Apatow has been outspoken about on Twitter. What Apatow had to say, in part:

• "With Cosby, for a while people were thinking, "They're all gold diggers." And at some point enough women came forward that the world knows this happened and that he is clearly some sort of sociopath. ... The Cosby thing I took seriously because I know one of the victims, who is not going to come forward. I had a personal connection to it, where somebody that I care about said that's exactly how it went down. Obviously you have to make sure things are true. Everything everyone says isn't true. But if you don't believe women or take their accusations very, very seriously, women will not speak up. And if women don't speak up more women will be raped."

Read the interview, in which Apatow also recalls concerns that Steve Carell looked like Jeffrey Dahmer in the 40-Year-Old Virgin, here. (More Judd Apatow stories.)