A lawsuit has been filed by a woman named Julia Holcomb against Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Holcomb, who had a sexual relationship with Tyler in the 1970s when she was a teen, claims that Tyler sexually assaulted her and was able to obtain guardianship over her, allowing him to continue the relationship.
The lawsuit, which was filed just days before the deadline for California’s Child Victims Act, alleges that Tyler had “power, fame and substantial financial ability” which Holcomb claims she was “powerless to resist”. Holcomb also claims that Tyler arranged for her to fly across state lines to meet him on tour and continued to provide her with alcohol and drugs.
In a copy of the lawsuit which does not identify Tyler by name, but whose allegations match up with comments the rocker has made publicly in his 2011 memoir Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? about a relationship with an unnamed 16-year-old girl.
In Tyler’s memoir, he wrote that he “almost took a teen bride” because “her 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. I took her on tour with me.”
Holcomb says the two met after she attended one of Tyler’s concerts in 1973. According to the lawsuit, Tyler allegedly took the teenager back to his hotel room where he “performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct upon” her, the outlet reports.
When Holcomb became pregnant in 1975, Tyler allegedly convinced her to get an abortion, telling her that a recent apartment fire would have harmed the baby due to smoke inhalation and a lack of oxygen. This was later proven to be false. Holcomb eventually left Tyler and returned home, married, and became a devout Catholic.
Holcomb has since shared her experience on multiple platforms, including Fox News and anti-abortion websites, as a way to gain closure and justice.
In 2011, Holcomb wrote, “I became lost in a rock and roll culture. In Steven’s world, it was sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but it seemed no less chaotic than the world I left behind. I didn’t know it yet, but I would barely make it out alive.”
