LOS ANGELES — "The Cosby Show" actor Geoffrey Owens must feel some vindication. The tabloids and Fox News tried to job-shame him last year for working at Trader Joe's in between acting gigs, but he got the last laugh.
Owens was featured in the opening segment at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night in Los Angeles and was one of the performers who shared their back stories with the audience.
"Somewhere in the middle of the road of my life, I found myself in the dark world of unemployment and debt, but instead of switching careers like a sane person, I took a job at a local Trader Joe's to see if I could hang in there with my career. And it's actually worked out pretty well," Owens said, before proclaiming, "I'm Geoffrey Owens, and I am an actor."
Fox News and The Daily Mail posted photographs of the 57-year-old actor bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s last fall.
Owens, who played Sondra Huxtable’s doctor husband on “The Cosby Show” from 1985 until 1992, had to quit the job after 15 months because the publicity was drawing unwanted attention to the store.
He wasn’t down on his luck for very long. Movie mogul Tyler Perry offered Owens a job shortly after the incident, and other actors and celebrities came to his defense.