In a new lawsuit, Aerosmith leader Steven Tyler is accused of “sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress” by Julia Holcomb, who claims to have had a sexual relationship with the singer in the ’70s, when she was a teenager.
Rolling Stone reports that in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, Holcomb doesn’t mention Tyler by name, but the suit includes quotes from Tyler’s memoir and Holcomb has spoken out against Tyler in the past. The lawsuit was filed as part of California’s Child Victims Act, “a 2019 piece of legislation that lifted the statute of limitations and granted a three-year lookback period for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to come forward with their allegations,” per Rolling Stone. The deadline to file a lawsuit under the act is December 31, 2022.
In Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?, Tyler notes that he “almost took a teen bride” and that “her parents fell in love with me, signed a paper over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state. I took her on tour with me.”
In the suit, Holcomb says she met Tyler shortly after her 16th birthday in 1973, after Aerosmith performed in Portland, Oregon. Tyler would have been 25 at the time. Tyler apparently took Holcomb to his hotel room and “performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct upon” her before calling a taxi to take her home the next morning. She also claims she “was powerless to resist” Tyler’s “power, fame and substantial financial ability,” and that Tyler “coerced and persuaded Plaintiff into believing this was a ‘romantic love affair.’”
The lawsuit goes on to allege that by 1974, Tyler had convinced Holcomb’s mother to allow him to become her legal guardian, a move that would allow Holcomb to legally travel across state lines with Tyler. The suit claims Tyler “did not meaningfully follow through on” promises to enroll Holcomb in school and give her medical care and “instead continued to travel with, assault, and provide alcohol and drugs to Plaintiff.”
Read more about the lawsuit here.