Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens still struggling to make ends meet after he quit Trader Joes gig over attack on my privacy
“Cosby Show” actor Geoffrey Owens said he’s still struggling to make ends meet after he was forced to quit his job at a Trader Joe’s grocery store amid an “attack on my privacy” Owens, known for his role as Elvin Tibideaux on the six-time Emmy-winning series, claimed he’s “not much better off” today than he was when a customer snapped a photo of the actor working behind the grocery store register in 2018.“Even today, right now, as we speak, I still struggle to make a living,” Owens told Atlanta’s V-103 radio station on Dec.18.
“I struggle every day to make my ends meet.And people can’t get their heads around that because they see me in movies.Owens’ residual checks “were never particularly wonderful” because he only acted in “maybe 20% of shows” on the hit series.“People have a false impression of what the average middle-class actor makes and their ability to make a living in the industry,” Owens said.The Yale University graduate and son of former New York congressman Major Owens took a “regular” job and went mostly unnoticed until he was photographed working at Trader Joe’s.“At first, there was some negative stuff about basically the job shaming.
A ‘where is he now’ kinda thing,” Owens told V-103.“But then, very soon after that, there was all this support and encouragement from all over the world.”Owens was worried about his invasion of privacy, so he left the job before this new gig went public.“It was strange because someone had been in the store taking pictures,” Owens recalled.
And I was like, now that this is breaking I’m not going to feel comfortable working in this store wondering who is around with a camera.It would just be too weird.
I’m a very private person.“It wasn’t like I quit knowing I would be making a lot of money soon or anything.
I just felt like I wasn’t going to be able to handle that kind of scrutiny and attack on my privacy.”When the news broke, an outpouring of ...