Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has been accused of sexual assault by a second woman.
Rolling Stone reported that in a lawsuit filed in New York today (November 2), Jeanne Bellino claims that Tyler violently assaulted her twice in one day in the summer of 1975, when she was 17.
Bellino, who is a former child model, says it was the only day she ever encountered Tyler, and the lawsuit lists the allegations as gender-motivated violence. She is seeking unspecified damages.
The suit claims that Bellino and Tyler were walking to the Warwick Hotel in New York after a fashion show, when Bellino questioned Tyler about a song lyric, which frustrated him, and he forced her into a phone booth.
Steven Tyler on stage with Aerosmith in Philadelphia in 2023 (Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images)
“While holding her captive, Tyler stuck his tongue down her throat, and put his hands upon her body, her breasts, her buttocks, and her genitals, moving and removing clothing and pinning her against the wall of the phone booth,” the suit alleges.
“As Tyler was mauling and groping Plaintiff, he was humping her pretending to have sex with Plaintiff. Others stood by outside the phone booth laughing and as passersby watched and witnessed, nobody in the entourage intervened.”
The suit states a second incident occurred later that day at the Warwick Hotel’s bar area, where Tyler allegedly forcibly kissed Bellino and grinded against her.
The suit goes on to say that Bellino “has suffered and will continue to suffer, great pain of mind and body, severe and permanent emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, physical, personal & psychological injuries”. It also states that Bellino was hospitalised and medicated after the incident and still requires medication to cope with the trauma to this day.
Tyler’s representatives did not reply to a request for comment on the allegations.
Tyler first faced accusations of sexual assault in December 2022, when Julia Misley, who was known as Julia Holcomb at the time, accused the singer of sexual assault and battery dating back to the 1970s, when she was a minor. Tyler denied all of the allegations.
In the suit, she claimed that they were both involved in a sexual relationship for about three years and that the frontman convinced her mother to grant him guardianship over her when she was 16.
The lawsuit also referenced Tyler’s memoirs, in which he recalled that he “almost took a teen bride” and described how her parents “signed a paper over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state”.
The lawsuit further alleged that Tyler “coerced and persuaded” Misley into believing the relationship was a “romantic love affair”, and detailed claims that he demanded she get an abortion in 1975, when she was pregnant with his child.
Tyler’s attorney, Shawn Holley, issued 24 affirmative defences and denied all allegations in April this year, stating that all claims are “barred” as the claimant gave “consent”, and added that Tyler should be granted immunity as he was “caretaker and/or guardian” at the time.
The attorney also stated that Misley “has not suffered any injury or damage as a result of any action by Defendant,” and that the conduct – presumably referring to his memoirs – is protected under the first amendment.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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