Meet Karma Lawrence, the shopper who snapped candid photos of former The Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens working at Trader Joe’s.
As previously reported, Owen’s revealed he had been working at the New Jersey store for 15 months ‘out of necessity’ between short-term acting gigs and teaching, but he has now quit because of the unwanted attention he has received.
[READ: Cosby Show Actor Responds to Being ‘Job Shamed’ On Social Media + Tyler Perry Offers Role… (VIDEO)]
Now that photos’ origination has been identified, the shopper has been publicly humiliated as well and in a recent interview Lawrence admits she regrets she ever took the pics.
Details below…
Lawrence, 50, tells NJ.com that she never meant to hurt Owens when she photographed him bagging groceries at the store and shared the pictures with several media outlets, in fact, she says she took it ‘on impulse’ adding: ‘I figured everybody does it. I don’t know what possessed me. I just did it. I didn’t even think about it.’
Lawrence submitted the photos that she took to a few celebrity websites, and the pictures quickly went viral.
From there, everything quickly went downhill with other actors and online commenters slamming the outlets who published the pics and by extension, the person who took the photos, for ?job shaming.?
Lawrence said she actually wanted to approach Owens in the store and tell him she was a fan but worried it 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. I should’ve.’
She also loves Trader Joe?s and sees no shame in Owens working there.
?They have the best stuff,? Lawrence said. ?When I saw him working there I thought maybe because of everything with Bill Cosby that his residuals got cut. And people have to take a normal job. But I didn?t think anything bad about it. I work a normal job.”
Nevertheless, Owens admitted last week he was ‘devastated’ after the photos went viral and soon quit the job after all of the unwanted attention (click HERE if you missed that).
Lawrence says she regrets causing Owens pain, and that she is also suffering from an angry backlash after sharing the pictures.
The irony of Karma’s first name is inescapable as she’s been forced to shut down her social media accounts, and says she cried for nearly an hour after reading the vitriolic responses to her photos.
‘So much hate. So much nastiness. Oh, it’s been terrible.’
‘I’m not the monster they’re making me out to be.’
For the record, KarmaAnd if she had one message for the star, it was her apology.
‘I am extremely, extremely apologetic about what has happened,’ she said. ‘And if I could take it back, I would.’
Owens played Elvin Tibideaux, the husband of the eldest daughter of Bill Cosby’s character on the TV show.
Since the photos emerged, numerous actors and members of the public voiced support for Owens, saying there is no shame in being a working actor.