A woman who claims to have had an illicit relationship with Steven Tyler in the 70s when she was a minor has filed a lawsuit against the Aerosmith singer, accusing him of sexual assault, sexual violence and intentional infliction of distress emotional. The lawsuit was filed following California legislation that temporarily waived statutes of limitations for allegations of childhood sexual abuse.
In the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles and obtained by rolling stone, plaintiff Julia Holcomb alleges that Tyler convinced Holcomb’s mother to grant him guardianship over her when she was 16, which consequently allowed her to live with him and have a sexual relationship. She claims they were together from 1973 until about three years later. The prosecution itself does not name Tyler, naming the defendants as defendant Doe 1 and Doe 2 at 50. But Holcomb – who rolling stone mentioned in a group profile in 1976 in reference to Tyler’s romantic life – went public with his experience with Tyler in the past, and the lawsuit directly cites from Tyler’s own memoir. In his book, without naming names, Tyler similarly says that he “almost married a teenage girl” and that “her parents fell in love with me, signed a paper for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t be arrested if I took her out of state. Took her on tour with me.
In the lawsuit, Holcomb alleges that she “was powerless to resist” Tyler’s “power, fame and substantial financial capacity”, and that Tyler “coerced and persuaded the plaintiff into believing that it was of a “romantic love story”. Holcomb alleges she met Tyler (who would have been 25 when they met) just after his 16th birthday when Aerosmith performed a concert in Portland, Oregon, in 1973. Tyler, according to the suit, took Holcomb back to his hotel room, where they discussed Holcomb’s age. After allegedly asking why she had been out alone all night, Tyler and Holcomb opened up about her issues at home. He then “committed various acts of criminal sexual conduct” on her before sending her home in a taxi the next morning, the lawsuit says.
Tyler also allegedly bought Holcomb his own plane ticket to his upcoming Aerosmith show in Seattle since she was underage and could not legally travel with him across state lines, the lawsuit says. After the Seattle show, Tyler reportedly performed more sexual acts on her, and Holcomb returned to Portland the next morning.
In 1974, as the lawsuit claims, Tyler convinced Holcomb’s mother to allow him to become her guardian, which would make it easier for him to travel with her without criminal prosecution – a timeline that matches Tyler’s own comments in his memoir. of 2011. Tyler allegedly told Holcomb’s mother that he would provide better support than she received at home, promising to enroll her in school and give her medical attention. Tyler “did not materially fulfill these promises and instead continued to travel with, assault, and supply plaintiff with alcohol and drugs,” the suit alleges.
Holcomb further alleges that she was pregnant with Tyler’s son in 1975 when she was 17, but had an abortion after Tyler insisted that she terminate the pregnancy following a apartment fire. In making the argument, he cited smoke inhalation and lack of oxygen for the baby. Although the lawsuit says a medical professional told them the unborn baby was not injured in the fire.
According to the lawsuit, Holcomb was hesitant to have an abortion, but Tyler threatened to stop supporting her if she didn’t pursue the procedure. After the abortion, she reportedly left Tyler and returned to Portland to change her life. She became a devout Catholic, met her husband, and buried her previous experiences with Tyler until he wrote about it in his book.
Holcomb says in the lawsuit that his life was further disrupted by the publication of Tyler’s memoir, which, without Holcomb’s consent, referenced his time with an underage girl and subjected her to “unintentional infamy.” while calling the alleged abuse “romantic, affectionate.” relationship,” the suit says. Tyler also spoke of a relationship with an underage girl both in his own memoir and in Aerosmith’s autobiography. Aerosmith’s autobiography, published in 1997, refers to the relationship, the apartment fire and the abortion, but Tyler calls the daughter Diana and says she was 14 at the time of their meet. In his memoirs, however, he says she was 16, and he writes about the fire but not the abortion. In the lawsuit, Holcomb says she is mentioned in the acknowledgments of the memoirs, which further removed her anonymity. (Book acknowledgments include Julia Halcombwhich could be a misspelling of his name.)
“She was sixteen, she knew how to be mean and there wasn’t a hair on it,” Tyler wrote in his memoir before saying he became the girl’s guardian to avoid arrest if he took her out of state before detailing their sexual endeavors. a few pages later. “With my bad self of being twenty-six and her barely old enough to drive and sexy as hell, I just fell madly in love with her. She was a cute skinny little tomboy dressed as Little Bo Peep She was my heart’s desire, my partner in crimes of passion.
The lawsuit isn’t the first time Holcomb has shared these details about her alleged experience with Tyler. Prior to the complaint, she detailed many of the same allegations in 2011 for the far-right anti-abortion website Lifesitenews, and she appeared on programs like Tucker Carlson’s show to share her experience as fodder against pro-choice advocacy. Holcomb also spoke about the experience in the 2021 documentary look away, which focused on sexual abuse in rock music culture.
“I got lost in a rock and roll culture. In Steven’s world it was sex, drugs and rock and roll, but it seemed no less chaotic than the world I had left behind. I didn’t know it yet, but I would barely make it out alive,” Holcomb wrote in 2011. “I couldn’t believe he was even asking me to have an abortion at this point. He spent over an hour urging me to go ahead and have an abortion. He said I was too young to have a baby and it would have brain damage because I had been in the fire and had taken drugs. ”
Holcomb’s lawsuit comes in the final days of California’s Child Victims Act, a 2019 law that lifted the statute of limitations and granted a three-year look-back period for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to present their claims. The deadline to file a complaint is December 31, 2022.
A representative for Tyler did not immediately respond to rolling stonerequest for comment.
New York has similar legislation with the Adult Survivors Act, giving New Yorkers one year to sue for sexual misconduct they suffered as adults, regardless of when the alleged incident occurred. is produced. Since it went into effect last month, two women have accused late record executive Ahmet Ertegun of sexual assault in the 1980s and 1990s. California also passed a law lifting the statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases adults for one year from January 1, 2023.
