LOS ANGELES • Bill Cosby's wife Camille and their children have not yet visited him in prison, where he has been since late September. But they are not shunning him.
The disgraced comedian simply does not want his family to see him as a prisoner, his spokesman says.
"He feels that when he left home, he left home the day of the sentencing as Bill Cosby, not as NN7687, the number they have given him, and he wants his family to see him in that light, not in the light of a prison uniform," Mr Andrew Wyatt told DailyMailTV.
Mr Wyatt said he has been Cosby's sole visitor at SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security state prison in Pennsylvania. He also said the comedian has received private messages of support from long-time celebrity pals Quincy Jones and Spike Lee.
"He views it like you're going to war and you're not going to see your friends and family," the spokesman said. "You have to abide by the rules."
The former Cosby Show star is serving a sentence of up to 10 years after being convicted in April last year on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and molesting Ms Andrea Constand. He has maintained his innocence and is appealing against the court's decision.
Cosby, 81, has been married to Camille, 75, since January 1964. They had five children, three of whom - Erika, 53; Erinn, 52; and Evin, 42 - are still living.
Their son Ennis was killed during a botched robbery attempt in 1997, at age 27, while daughter Ensa died last year, at 44, after suffering kidney failure.
DPA