Rock superstar Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith is denying that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl and forced her into an abortion. In January, the now-adult woman, Julia Holcomb, sued Tyler, and he is seeking for the lawsuit to be dismissed.
Holcomb said Tyler convinced her mother to give him guardianship so she could go on tour with him at the age of 16. Tyler was 25 at the time, and the two began a sexual relationship. Holcomb described herself as “powerless” in the arrangement; under the agreement with her mother, Tyler was supposed to give her better access to education and health care, but these promises were not kept. In his book, Tyler described her as almost becoming his “teen bride,” admitting he put the guardianship in place so he wouldn’t be arrested.
“She was sixteen, she knew how to nasty, and there wasn’t a hair on it. With my bad self being twenty-six and she barely old enough to drive and sexy as hell, I just fell madly in love with her. She was a cute skinny little tomboy dressed up as Little Bo Peep. She was my heart’s desire, my partner in crimes of passion.”
In 1975, Holcomb got pregnant and said Tyler forced her into an abortion by saying he would stop financially supporting her if she didn’t go through with it. Afterwards, though, she left Tyler and went back home.
She ultimately became a devout Catholic, and only spoke out about the experience once Tyler published his autobiography and profited from her trauma.
In Tyler’s response to the lawsuit, however, he claimed their relationship was consensual despite the age difference, and that Holcomb wasn’t harmed by the experience. “Plaintiff’s claims are barred in whole or in part because (Tyler’s) actions were legitimate, good-faith, justified, nondiscriminatory and/or non-retaliatory,” his court papers said.
He also is claiming that he is owed immunity because he was her legal guardian at the time.
Holcomb has spoken out about how much the abortion hurt her, saying, “I know that I can’t go back and save my baby. But I can choose life now. I can be a mother who guards and protects her children now. I would encourage you, any woman out there who’s had an abortion and regrets it, do everything you can to end abortion. I feel that giving life to my children is the greatest gift that God has ever given to me.”
And in a statement about her lawsuit, she said she wants celebrities like Tyler to be held accountable for their actions.
“I want this action to expose an industry that protects celebrity offenders, to cleanse and hold accountable an industry that both exploited and allowed me to be exploited for years, along with so many other naïve and vulnerable kids and adults,” she said. “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.”
