Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler finally responded to claims that he allegedly sexually assaulted a minor in 1973 — and forced the the girl to get an abortion — in response to a lawsuit filed in December.
In the lengthy response obtained by RollingStone magazine, the 75-year-old rocker adamantly denied the allegations made by plaintiff Julia Misley, formerly known as Julia Holcomb.
The band’s frontman stated in his defense that the plaintiff consented to the sexual relationship between them as he issued 24 affirmative defenses denying the allegations and requested that a judge dismiss the lawsuit filed in December 2022.
Steven Tyler denies sexually assaulting a minor, claims it was consensual https://t.co/Wy7cL4JYyM pic.twitter.com/vrEuK4Jd3H
— New York Post (@nypost) April 6, 2023
In one such defense, Tyler wrote that plaintiff Misley’s “claims are barred in whole or in part by Plaintiff’s consent” and “because of immunity or qualified immunity to Defendant as caregiver and/or guardian.”
The singer also claimed that Misley “has not suffered any injury or damage as a result of any action by Defendant,” further stating that “if it is determined that Plaintiff has been damaged, then any such damages were not caused by Defendant,” the outlet noted.
In a statement from Misley’s attorney, Jeff Anderson called Tyler’s response “gaslighting” and that Tyler is “falsely claiming that she ‘consented’ and that the pain he inflicted was “justified and in good faith.”
“Never have we encountered a legal defense as obnoxious and potentially dangerous as the one that Tyler and his lawyers launched this week: Their claim that legal guardianship is consent and permission for sexual abuse,” Anderson’s statement added.
The response came three months after Misley filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. The woman has long claimed that Tyler made her abort their baby in the 1970s when she was just 17, as previously reported. She sued before a CA state law expired last year dealing with certain sexual abuse crimes.
While the suit, does not directly name Tyler, the plaintiff quotes Tylers 2011 memoir about how he “almost took a teen bride” whose “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.” In the lawsuit, she accuses Tyler of sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.