After being sued for alleged sexual assault of a minor in late 2022, a second woman has hit Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler with another sexual assault lawsuit, Rolling Stone reports.
The lawsuit was filed in New York court today by former child model Jeanne Bellino, who alleged that she met Tyler in New York City in the summer of 1975, when she was 17 (the age of consent in New York state). She claimed that the musician violently assaulted her twice on the day they met, listed in the filing as gender-motivated violence.
The following article contains potentially triggering material relating to sexual assault and violence. If you believe you have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct and are looking for support, consult the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime to find resources in your area.
Bellino alleged that she met Tyler, who would have been around 27 at the time, through a friend at the Warwick Hotel after a fashion show the plaintiff was working. She and her friend then walked down Sixth Avenue with Tyler and several unnamed members of his entourage, which is when Bellino claimed to have asked him a question about a song lyric, prompting the singer to force her into a phone booth.
"While holding her captive, Tyler stuck his tongue down her throat, and put his hands upon her body, her breasts, her buttocks, and her genitals, moving and removing clothing and pinning her against the wall of the phone booth," the document alleges. "As Tyler was mauling and groping Plaintiff, he was humping her pretending to have sex with Plaintiff. Others stood by outside the phone booth laughing and as passersby watched and witnessed, nobody in the entourage intervened."
The complainant was allegedly eventually able to free herself following raising her knee and pulling Tyler's hair, reportedly running out of the phone booth "in shock and fear." However, Bellino claimed to need to remain with the group because she was relying on her friend for transportation.
According to the suit, they returned to the Warwick, where Tyler allegedly forcibly kissed Bellino and grinded on her again. Then, the musician allegedly went up to his room and proceeded to call down to the lobby, having a hotel associate tell Bellino that she could go up to his room.
The filing claims the plaintiff was so scared that she "couldn't talk and was paralyzed," before making a beeline for the door. The doorman had allegedly seen Tyler forcing himself on the teenager and "flung her" into a cab outside the hotel, urging the driver to go. When she got home, Bellino allegedly told her sister everything.
Since the alleged incident, she has "suffered and will continue to suffer, great pain of mind and body, severe and permanent emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, physical, personal & psychological injuries," according to the lawsuit, which added that Bellino was hospitalized and medicated as a result of the incident and still needs medication "to cope with the sexual assault and has suffered long-term physical injury associated with the trauma" after almost five decades. She's now seeking unspecified damages to be determined by the court.
Last December, Julia Misley came forward to accuse Tyler of sexual assault, battery and intentional infliction of distress for the illicit sexual relationship they allegedly had when she was 16. The musician denied the allegations, claiming their relationship was entirely consensual and that her claims were barred "because of immunity to Defendant as caretaker/guardian." Misley alleged that Tyler had convinced her parents to grant him guardianship so she could travel with him across state lines without facing criminal prosecution.
The lawsuit was filed in New York court today by former child model Jeanne Bellino, who alleged that she met Tyler in New York City in the summer of 1975, when she was 17 (the age of consent in New York state). She claimed that the musician violently assaulted her twice on the day they met, listed in the filing as gender-motivated violence.
The following article contains potentially triggering material relating to sexual assault and violence. If you believe you have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct and are looking for support, consult the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime to find resources in your area.
Bellino alleged that she met Tyler, who would have been around 27 at the time, through a friend at the Warwick Hotel after a fashion show the plaintiff was working. She and her friend then walked down Sixth Avenue with Tyler and several unnamed members of his entourage, which is when Bellino claimed to have asked him a question about a song lyric, prompting the singer to force her into a phone booth.
"While holding her captive, Tyler stuck his tongue down her throat, and put his hands upon her body, her breasts, her buttocks, and her genitals, moving and removing clothing and pinning her against the wall of the phone booth," the document alleges. "As Tyler was mauling and groping Plaintiff, he was humping her pretending to have sex with Plaintiff. Others stood by outside the phone booth laughing and as passersby watched and witnessed, nobody in the entourage intervened."
The complainant was allegedly eventually able to free herself following raising her knee and pulling Tyler's hair, reportedly running out of the phone booth "in shock and fear." However, Bellino claimed to need to remain with the group because she was relying on her friend for transportation.
According to the suit, they returned to the Warwick, where Tyler allegedly forcibly kissed Bellino and grinded on her again. Then, the musician allegedly went up to his room and proceeded to call down to the lobby, having a hotel associate tell Bellino that she could go up to his room.
The filing claims the plaintiff was so scared that she "couldn't talk and was paralyzed," before making a beeline for the door. The doorman had allegedly seen Tyler forcing himself on the teenager and "flung her" into a cab outside the hotel, urging the driver to go. When she got home, Bellino allegedly told her sister everything.
Since the alleged incident, she has "suffered and will continue to suffer, great pain of mind and body, severe and permanent emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, physical, personal & psychological injuries," according to the lawsuit, which added that Bellino was hospitalized and medicated as a result of the incident and still needs medication "to cope with the sexual assault and has suffered long-term physical injury associated with the trauma" after almost five decades. She's now seeking unspecified damages to be determined by the court.
Last December, Julia Misley came forward to accuse Tyler of sexual assault, battery and intentional infliction of distress for the illicit sexual relationship they allegedly had when she was 16. The musician denied the allegations, claiming their relationship was entirely consensual and that her claims were barred "because of immunity to Defendant as caretaker/guardian." Misley alleged that Tyler had convinced her parents to grant him guardianship so she could travel with him across state lines without facing criminal prosecution.
