Guns N’ Roses star Axl Rose has been accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit, filed in New York this week. Said suit comes from model and actress Sheila Kennedy, who says Rose violently assaulted her in a hotel room in 1989.
In the suit, Kennedy alleges that she met Rose at a night club in New York at the height of Guns N’ Roses’ fame, and was invited back to his hotel room for a party with another woman, as well as MTV star “Riki” Rachtman. (Who allegedly told Kennedy “It’s going to get bad” once Rose started getting violent.) Although initially interested in Rose, Kennedy says she became uncomfortable after he began having sex with the other woman; when she retreated to another hotel room, she alleges that Rose eventually barged in, dragged her to his room by her hair, tied her up, and raped her. Per the lawsuit: “Rose made no attempt to ask for or check that Kennedy was consenting.”
The lawsuit has been filed under the auspices of New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which expires soon; the law extends the statute of limitations on crimes related to sexual assault. As noted by The Washington Post, Rose has been accused by two former romantic partners (Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour) of abusive behavior; the suit also mentions at least one other incident of alleged sexual assault, from 1985, when Rose was accused of, but not prosecuted for, having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Rose, for his part, has denied all allegations against him, with his lawyer bluntly stating that “This incident never happened. Though he doesn’t deny the possibility of a fan photo taken in passing, Mr. Rose has no recollection of ever meeting or speaking to the Plaintiff, and has never heard about these fictional allegations prior to today. Mr. Rose is confident this case will be resolved in his favor.”
Kennedy—most famous as a model for Penthouse, and also a former contestant on CBS’s Big Brother—says she continues to suffer PTSD-like symptoms whenever Rose or his band are mentioned, is seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory damages for psychological and emotional distress.