Axl Rose has been sued for alleged violent sexual assault by a former model.
The Guns N’ Roses frontman reportedly assaulted Sheila Kennedy in 1989, according to a lawsuit filed in New York’s Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 22). NME has reached out to Rose’s publicist for comment.
In the lawsuit, Kennedy claimed that she was 26 and he was 27 when they first met at a nightclub in New York. Upon meeting, Rose invited Kennedy to his hotel room, but said her friend was “not hot enough” to be invited as well. Kennedy then went back to Rose’s room with Riki Rachtman. Rose would later help Rachtman secure his role as a future MTV host, and was allegedly in New York around the time this happened. The document further claims that Rose gave guests in the hotel room cocaine and alcohol.
At first, there was an initial consensual kiss, where Rose “pushed Kennedy against the wall”. Furthermore, the lawsuit states that Kennedy “was open to sleeping with him if things progressed.” However, she did not consent to alleged further violent encounters later that evening.
Kennedy claimed she left the room later to Rachtman’s hotel room, as Rose began having sex with another model and appeared to be “encouraging group sex”, which she did not consent to. Furthermore, Rose’s sexual encounter with the other model was described as “aggressive in a way that appeared painful for the model” and made Kennedy uncomfortable.
Upon leaving the room, Kennedy heard “objects being thrown” and “glass shattering”, with Rose screaming insults at the other model. Rachtman allegedly told Kennedy: “It’s going to get bad.”
Rose then entered Rachtman’s room, and allegedly blocked the doorway so Kennedy couldn’t leave. The lawsuit claims that Rose then “knocked her to the floor and “grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the suite back to his bedroom.” This caused “her knees to bleed from scraping on the rug.”
Rose went on to allegedly throw her on the bed, tying up her hands behind her back with pantyhose and then forcibly penetrating her. The lawsuit claimed Rose was in “a sexual, volatile rage”.
“He treated her like property used solely for his sexual pleasure,” the suit went on to allege. “Kennedy did not consent and felt overpowered.”
The lawsuit also stated that Rose has a “history of abuse”, alleging that he has “a reputation within the music industry for frequently aggressive, violent, and sexually hostile behavior.” The document cites the abuse claims from Rose’s former partners, Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour, as well as Rose’s 1985 statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl, reportedly his then-girlfriend.
As a result, the lawsuit claimed that Kennedy suffered from PTSD-like symptoms, along with anxiety and depression. Furthermore, Kennedy claims her career was compromised by the assault. Kennedy now seeks an unspecified amount of damages from the court for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and gender-motivated violence.
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