Dec. 31 (UPI) — Steven Tyler, the frontman of the classic rock band Aerosmith, has been accused of sexual assault of a minor in a new lawsuit.
Julia Misley, the woman, alleged in a lawsuit filed under the California Child Victims Act that she was sexually abused by Tyler when she was a teenager in the 1970s.
The lawsuit was filed this week in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles and published online by her attorneys as the three-year grace period lifting the statute of limitations for those who were sexually abused as children was set to expire.
Misley, now 65, wrote in a statement that she learned she had a new opportunity to take legal action because of the change in California law. The rock star is not named in the lawsuit itself and identified in the court documents as “Defendant Doe 1.”
“Because I know that I am not the only one who suffered abuse in the music industry, I feel it is time for me to take this stand and bring this action, to speak up and stand in solidarity with the other survivors,” Misley wrote.
“I hope that from this action, we can make the music industry safer, expose the predators in it, and expose those forces in the industry that have both enabled and created a culture of permissiveness and self-protection of themselves and the celebrity offenders among them.”
Misley said in her statement that she was “retraumatized” by Tyler, who detailed in his memoir “Does the Noise in My Head Bother You” how he “almost took a teen bride” while describing sexual encounters with her. Misley, who was born Julia Holcomb, appears in the book’s acknowledgments.
Tyler allegedly met Misley in 1973 when she was just 16 years old and he was 25, and she is named in a 1976 profile on Aerosmith in the magazine Rolling Stone.
Misley’s lawyers wrote in the court documents that Tyler “showed unusual interest” in her after she was invited backstage at one of his concerts in Portland, Oregon.
Tyler then invited her to his hotel room, when Misley allegedly told him her age, according to the lawsuit. The rock star then allegedly asked her why she was out all night by herself to which she said she was facing struggles at home.
Misley alleged in the court documents that Tyler “performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct” on her that night, before inviting her to Aerosmith’s next concert in Seattle and offering to buy her a plane ticket separate from him since she was a minor and could not travel with him across state lines.
The then-teenager used the plane ticket to see Aerosmith’s concert and spent the night with him in Tyler’s hotel room before returning to Portland.
“After the show in Seattle, [Tyler] continued to pursue [Misley] by frequently telephoning her at home, making various statements to induce her to visit him again including, but not limited to, telling her that he wrote a song for her that he recorded with his band,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit alleges that Tyler enticed her to go on the road with Aerosmith as he “continued to sexually assault” Misley, who was “powerless to resist” his power, fame and financial stability.
Tyler allegedly took actions to become Misley’s legal guardian around 1974 so she could more easily travel with him and even met with her mother, convincing her to sign over guardianship to him.
Misley allegedly became pregnant from sexual acts with Tyler, “causing him to be simultaneously both the father of Plaintiff’s unborn child and her legal guardian,” the lawsuit reads.
She was allegedly coerced into an abortion.
“Agents of [Tyler] were present and assisted with arrangement for the abortion,” the lawsuit reads.After the alleged abortion was performed, Misley allegedly “made a conscious decision to leave” and “escape” from Tyler.
Earlier this month, Aerosmith canceled the band’s final two shows in Las Vegas because of Tyler’s health.
In May, Aerosmith announced that the 74-year-old rocker was going into rehab and they canceled scheduled dates for June and July.
