‘Cosby Show’ actor is still struggling to pay his bills

Cosby Show actor still broke. 

Blog King, Mass Appeal

ATLANTA — “🎵Ain’t got no money. Ain’t got no fancy car. Don’t live the life of a millionaire. Or, a movie star.🎵” If you recall, actor Geoffrey Owens was shamed in 2018 after Karma Lawrence took photos of him bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s and disseminated ’em online. Well… fast forward to 2025 and he’s still broke. Geoffrey, best known for his banal role as Elvin Tibideaux on the iconic family sitcom “The Cosby Show,” revealed his destitution during an appearance on V-103 Atlanta’s “Big Tigger Morning Show” — claiming he walked away from his job at the grocery chain prior to going viral. “I quit Trader Joe’s actually before the news hit,” Geoffrey told host Big Tigger. “It was strange because someone had been in the store taking pictures. … And I was like, well, now that this is breaking, I’m not going to feel comfortable working in this store wondering who’s around with a camera. It’s gonna be just 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, that kind of attack on my privacy.”

As soon as the photos emerged, Geoffrey was succored by celebrities such as Tyler Perry — who offered him a role in “The Haves and Have Nots” — and Nicki Minaj — who cut him a check for $25,000. But Geoffrey inexplicably donated the money to charity because “at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.” Huh? Geoffrey also extolled Trader Joe’s, calling it a “wonderful place to work” before admitting he “asked for hours to work there again.” To call Geoffrey penurious would be a vast understatement.

Scuttlebutt has it he’s on food stamps.

“Even today, right now, as we speak, I still struggle to make a living,” Geoffrey explained.

“I struggle every day to make my ends meet. And people can’t get their heads around that because they see me in movies, whether it’s ‘Mr. Santa’ or, you know, I’m on ‘Poppa’s House’ on CBS. All the TV shows I’ve done and all that stuff. People have the impression that, ‘Well, you’re making a lot of money. What’s the problem? Why would you have financial trouble?’ They don’t understand the specifics of how my industry works.”

When Big Tigger mentioned Geoffrey must’ve received “wonderful” residuals for “The Cosby Show,” the 63-year-old thespian said the payments were “never particularly wonderful for me” because “I did maybe 20 percent of the show.”

“Plus, the show went away for a while because of what happened with Bill,” Geoffrey noted, referring to protagonist Bill Cosby who was accused by more than 60 women of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual harassment.

“People have a false impression of what the average… middle-class actor makes and their ability to make a living in the industry. So that’s what drove me to work at Trader Joe’s to begin with. Honestly, I’m not much better off now than I was then.”

During a chinwag with NJ.com, Karma said she felt like sh*t for putting Geoffrey’s minimum wage métier on blast.

Everybody and they mama ripped her a new asshole.

She was called all kinds of bitches.

“I don’t know why I snuck a picture,” Karma, 56, bemoaned.

“I figured everybody does it. I don’t know what possessed me. I just did it. I didn’t even think about it. I just kind of did it on impulse and it was a bad impulse. I actually wanted to go up to him and say something, but I thought, [I] might embarrass him. But then I did something that actually embarrassed him more. I didn’t go with my first instinct, and I should’ve.”

“It wasn’t malicious,” Karma continued.

“That’s on my kids, my grandkids, my parents. I’m not that type of a person. I’m not the monster they’re making me out to be. When I saw him working there I thought maybe because of everything with Bill Cosby that his residuals got cut… But I didn’t think anything bad about it. I work a normal job.”

Karma said if she were to see Geoffrey again, she would apologize.

“I would tell him, ‘I am extremely, extremely apologetic about what has happened,’” she said.

“And if I could take it back, I would.”

Geoffrey’s dad, Major Owens, served in the New York State Senate and the United States House of Representatives.

So it makes you wonder how did he end up broke?

For what it’s worth, Geoffrey ain’t the only Cosby Show actor working a 9 to 5.

Tempestt Bledsoe, who played Vanessa Huxtable, is a veterinarian.

And Carl Anthony Payne, who played Cockroach, sells used cars.

That said, do you feel sorry for Geoffrey?

Does Karma deserve to get her ass whooped?

Watch Geoffrey’s ‘woe is me’ interview.

Share your thoughts.