Axl Rose of the band Weapons N’ Roses was sued on Wednesday by a lady who accused him of dragging her by the hair, tying her up and raping her in a New York lodge in 1989.
The go well with was filed in New York State Supreme Court docket, in Manhattan, by Sheila Kennedy, a former mannequin who has appeared in Penthouse journal. She accused Mr. Rose of sexual assault and battery, and her go well with seeks unspecified damages.
Ms. Kennedy’s go well with is the newest in a collection of instances towards highly effective males which were introduced beneath the Grownup Survivors Act, a New York regulation that created a one-year window for individuals who say they had been victims of sexual abuse to file civil fits after the statute of limitations has expired. That window ends this week.
In current weeks, such instances have been filed towards Steven Tyler of Aerosmith; the music government L.A. Reid; and Neil Portnow, the previous head of the group behind the Grammy Awards. Final Thursday, the singer Cassie filed an explosive go well with towards Sean Combs — the producer and government also called Diddy and Puff Daddy — however it was settled in sooner or later. (Mr. Portnow has denied the accusation; Mr. Tyler and Mr. Reid haven’t responded. A lawyer for Mr. Combs mentioned that the settlement was “under no circumstances an admission of wrongdoing.”)
In a press release, Alan S. Gutman, a lawyer for Mr. Rose, mentioned: “Merely put, this incident by no means occurred.” He added: “Although he doesn’t deny the potential for a fan photograph taken in passing, Mr. Rose has no recollection of ever assembly or talking to the Plaintiff, and has by no means heard about these fictional allegations previous to right now.”
In her go well with, Ms. Kennedy says she met Mr. Rose in early 1989, when she went to a New York nightclub with a pal who was a fan of Weapons N’ Roses. The band was at maybe the height of its fame — and its members relished their reputations as hard-partying unhealthy boys — however Ms. Kennedy says in her go well with that on the time she didn’t know who Mr. Rose was.
Based on Ms. Kennedy’s criticism, Mr. Rose invited her and one other lady to a celebration at his suite in a lodge on Central Park West, the place he supplied them cocaine and alcohol. Based on the criticism, the get together “was in full swing” till Mr. Rose referred to as for everybody to go away besides Ms. Kennedy, the opposite lady and a person.
Based on the criticism, Mr. Rose started having intercourse with the opposite lady, in an “aggressive” method that Ms. Kennedy says within the go well with “appeared painful” for the girl. Ms. Kennedy says that she went to a different room within the suite, the place she might hear the sounds of breaking glass and objects being thrown in Mr. Rose’s room, and that she heard him yelling on the different lady and calling her a “whore.”
Based on Ms. Kennedy’s go well with, Mr. Rose stormed into the room the place she was, knocked her down, “grabbed her by the hair and dragged her throughout the suite again to his bed room.” Her knees had been bleeding from being scraped towards the rug, the go well with says.
In Mr. Rose’s room, the go well with says, he threw her facedown on the mattress, tied her fingers behind her again with pantyhose and sexually assaulted her, forcing anal penetration. The go well with says that Mr. Rose by no means sought Ms. Kennedy’s consent, and that she “didn’t consent and felt overpowered.”
In her go well with, Ms. Kennedy says that she has suffered nervousness and despair on account of the incident with Mr. Rose, and that her profession as an actress and mannequin has suffered. Ms. Kennedy catalogs her success as a Penthouse mannequin, mentioning that she was Pet of the Yr in 1983 and was on the quilt of the journal 4 occasions.
Ms. Kennedy has mentioned her encounter with Mr. Rose previously, together with an interview on the web site of The Every day Mail in 2016, and in a memoir, “No One’s Pet,” printed that very same yr. She additionally appeared in “Look Away,” a 2021 documentary about sexual abuse of younger girls within the music trade.
In her memoir, Ms. Kennedy additionally described her encounter with Mr. Rose as a violent one, which left her “crying and bleeding.” However she added within the guide: “Weirdly sufficient, I used to be okay with this. I had needed to be with him for the reason that minute I’d first laid eyes on him, and now I used to be getting him.”
When requested about that account, Ann Olivarius, a lawyer for Ms. Kennedy, mentioned in a press release: “Like many victims of sexual assault, it has taken Sheila time to return to phrases together with her experiences and to have the ability to discuss it absolutely and overtly.”