Aerosmith's Steven Tyler Denies Sexual Abuse Allegations

Content warning: This article discusses childhood sexual abuse

Steven Tyler has denied all allegations made against him in a lawsuit filed late last year, by a woman who accused the Aerosmith frontman of sexually abusing her while she was a minor in the 1970s.

Last December, Julia Misley – previously known as Julia Holcomb – sued Tyler for sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress she claims she suffered during their three-year relationship.

The Plaintiff’s Lawyer Has Called Tyler’s Response “Gaslighting”

Steven Tyler in 2016 | Photo by David Becker/Getty Images

In her suit, Misley claimed she met Tyler at an Aerosmith gig in 1973, when she was 16 and he was in his mid-twenties. The suit alleged Tyler then “performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct upon” her. Misley, the suit argues, was “powerless to resist” Tyler’s “power, fame and substantial financial ability,” and the singer “coerced and persuaded” Misley into believing this was a ‘romantic love affair.'”

Misley also alleged that, when she was 16, Tyler convinced her mother to grant him legal guardianship over her. The following year, she alleged, he forced her to get an abortion when she fell pregnant. The suit also alleged that despite his guardianship of Misley requiring him to provide appropriate care to her, Tyler “did not meaningfully follow through on these promises and instead continued to travel with, assault and provide alcohol and drugs to” her.

In a statement released at the time of the lawsuit’s filing, Misley said she wanted 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.”

“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. 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.

As Rolling Stone reports,Tyler filed a response last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, denying all allegations against him and requesting for the suit to be dismissed. Among 24 affirmative defences filed through his attorney, Shawn Holley, Tyler argued the relationship was consensual, and that he has “immunity or qualified immunity… as caregiver and/or guardian.”

Misley’s suit last year referenced a section from Tyler’s memoir Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? where he said he “almost took a teen bride” and that her parents “signed a paper over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state.”

Elsewhere, Tyler argued that Misley’s allegations are barred due to statute of limitations. However, Misley filed the suit following California’s Child Victims Act, a 2019 piece of legislation that provided a limited window for survivors of childhood sexual assault to come forward with allegations despite the statute. Misley’s suit was within that timeframe.

In his response, Tyler also argued Misley “has not suffered any injury or damage as a result of any action” by him, and that “if it is determined that [Misley] has been damaged, then any such damages were not caused” by him.

Misley’s attorney Jeff Anderson has since released a statement shared by in which he accused Tyler of “gaslighting,” and claimed the Aerosmith singer is “using a sham legal guardianship to avoid prosecution for sex crimes.”

“He’s heaping more pain on Misley and gaslighting her by falsely claiming that she ‘consented’ and that the pain he inflicted was “justified and in good faith,” Anderson said. “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.

“Tyler’s statement is more than a weak attempt to shift blame—it is a real and dangerous public safety threat to any vulnerable child who is currently in any kind of legal guardianship. Assuming care for a child—whether that child is 16 months or 16 years—does not and has never implied any type of consent to sexually abuse that child. To say any different is morally and legally repugnant.”