Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is facing another lawsuit: a woman has claimed he sexually harassed her when she was a teenager. This emerges from a lawsuit filed on Thursday (November 2) in New York.
A year earlier, a singer named Julia Misley Tyler had sued him in a Los Angeles court, accusing him of similar sexual assaults in the 1970s.
Jeanne Bellino claims she was harassed by Steven Tyler in a phone booth
As reported by American Rolling Stone, the new plaintiff’s allegations stem from two encounters on one day in the summer of 1975 in New York City. The plaintiff, Jeanne Bellino, who was 17 at the time, is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit, which cites “gender-motivated violence” as the cause of action.
In the lawsuit, Bellino claims that she initially met Steven Tyler, who was 27 at the time, through a friend. The friend arranged for her to meet Aerosmith at the Warwick Hotel after a fashion show in Manhattan where Bellino was working. From there, Bellino, her friend, Tyler and members of his entourage walked together along Sixth Avenue. At that point, Bellino claims she asked the singer for lyrics, at which point he became frustrated and, according to her, pushed her into a nearby phone booth.
“Everyone watched, nobody did anything”
The lawsuit continues: “While holding her captive, Tyler stuck his tongue down her throat and placed his hands on her body, breasts, buttocks and genitals, moved and removed articles of clothing, and pressed her against the wall of the phone booth . While Tyler groped and assaulted Plaintiff, he pretended to have sex with her. Others stood outside at the telephone booth and laughed while passers-by watched and witnessed, without anyone from the company intervening.”
Later, Tyler is said to have coerced her at the hotel bar and then called her to his room, which she refused.
Long-term consequences of sexual assault
According to the lawsuit, Bellino suffered “great mental and physical pain, severe and lasting emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, physical, personal and psychological injury.” She was hospitalized and medicated as a result of the incident and still requires medication to deal with the sexual assault almost 50 years later; she suffered long-term physical injuries as a result of the trauma.