Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has been sued by a woman who says she sexually abused the singer when she was a minor in the 1970s. According to the lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court and seen by the AFP news agency yesterday, 65-year-old US citizen Julia Misley accuses the 74-year-old musician of sexual assault.
For the lawsuit, Misley used a law that temporarily suspends the statute of limitations for sexual assault against a minor. Tyler is not named in the lawsuit, but Misley specifically names the Aerosmith frontman in a statement. Accordingly, she had met Tyler in 1973 after a concert when she was 16 years old and still called Julia Holcomb.
The then 25-year-old took her to his hotel room and committed “several illegal sexual acts” on her, according to the complaint. Their relationship continued after that because the young people could not counter “his power, his fame and his financial resources”. In addition, Tyler fooled her into thinking it was “a love story,” Misley’s attorneys said.
receive guardianship
In 1974, according to the lawsuit, Tyler was granted guardianship of Julia because he promised her mother that he would see to her welfare and education. Instead, he traveled around with the young people and provided them with alcohol and drugs.
A year later he also forced her to have an abortion. The teenager then left Tyler. She turned to religion, got married and “kept her shame secret,” according to the lawsuit.
Tyler wrote about relationship himself
Eventually, however, Tyler wrote about the relationship in his memoir. The tabloids then found out her identity, so she had to talk to her relatives about her past, her lawyers said.
Misley, who is now a staunch opponent of abortion, wants to sue Tyler for compensation for the sexual assault at the beginning of their relationship and for the psychological consequences of the liaison. When asked by AFP, Tyler’s spokesman declined to comment on the allegations.