In a legal confrontation echoing the #MeToo movement’s reach into the music industry, Steven Tyler, the legendary Aerosmith frontman, is being sued over allegations of sexual assault dating back to the 1970s.
Jeanne Bellino, who was 17 at the time of the alleged incidents, has accused Tyler of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed on November 2. The complaint details a series of encounters where Tyler purportedly assaulted Bellino in a phone booth and later at a hotel in New York City.
According to Bellino’s account, the incident began with an unwanted kiss and groping in a public phone booth while others looked on. It escalated later at the Warwick Hotel, where Bellino claims she was assaulted a second time.
The allegations state that the assault left Bellino, now 66, in distress, necessitating hospitalization and medication. In the wake of the trauma, Bellino is seeking damages for the enduring emotional and physical repercussions she alleges to have suffered due to the incidents.
Tyler’s legal troubles compound with another lawsuit filed earlier by Julia Misley, formerly known as Julia Holcomb. Misley’s legal action against Tyler under a 2019 California law, which allows victims of childhood sexual assault to pursue claims for past instances, asserts that Tyler, around 25 years old at the time, engaged in criminal sexual conduct after one of his concerts when Misley was just 16. The case further accuses Tyler of becoming Misley’s legal guardian to facilitate travel with him on tour. Misley also contends that she was coerced into an abortion by Tyler and that he later caused her additional harm by disclosing details of their relationship in his memoirs without her consent.
These new charges emerge after Tyler has publicly recounted experiences with young women in his memoir, including a reference to almost taking a teen bride, an apparent nod to his past relationship with Holcomb.
