Axl Rose Accused of Sexual Violence

Axl Rose (Instagram @gunsnroses)

JAKARTA - Axl Rose has been sued for alleged sexual violence by a former model.

The Guns N' Roses frontman reportedly assaulted Sheila Kennedy in 1989, according to a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 22.

In her lawsuit, Kennedy claims that she was 26 years old and Axl was 27 years old when they first met at a nightclub in New York.

When they met, Axl invited Kennedy to his hotel room, but said his friend was “not hot enough” to be invited too. Kennedy then returned to Axl's room with Riki Rachtman. Axl later helped Rachtman secure his role as a future MTV host, and was allegedly in New York at the time this happened.

The documents further claim that Axl provided cocaine and alcohol to guests in the hotel room.

In the beginning, there was an initial consensual kiss, in which Axl “pushed Kennedy against the wall.” Additionally, the lawsuit states that Kennedy was “open to sleeping with her if things progressed.” However, he did not condone allegations of further violence that night.

Kennedy claims that she then left the room for Rachtman's hotel room, when Axl began having sex with another model and appeared to “encourage group sex,” which she did not consent to. Additionally, Axl's sexual encounters with other models were described as “aggressive in a way that appeared hurtful to the model” and made Kennedy uncomfortable.

While leaving the room, Kennedy heard “objects being thrown” and “glass breaking,” and Axl shouted insults at the other models. Rachtman allegedly told Kennedy: “This is going to be bad.”

Axl then entered Rachtman's room, and allegedly blocked the door so Kennedy couldn't get out. The lawsuit claims that Axl then “knocked her to the floor and” grabbed her by her hair and dragged her across the suite back to her bedroom. This caused his “knees to bleed from being scratched by the carpet.”

Axl allegedly threw her on the bed, tied her hands behind her back with stockings and then forcibly penetrated her. The lawsuit claims Rose was in a “volatile state of sexual rage.”

“He treated her like property to be used solely for his sexual pleasure,” the lawsuit continues. “Kennedy did not approve of it and felt overpowered.”

The lawsuit also states that Axl has a “history of abuse,” alleging that he has “a reputation in the music industry for frequently aggressive, violent and sexually hostile behavior.”

The documents cite abuse claims from Axl's former partners, Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour, as well as Axl's 1985 statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl, who was reportedly his girlfriend at the time.

As a result, the lawsuit states that Kennedy suffered from PTSD-like symptoms, as well as anxiety and depression. Furthermore, Kennedy claimed his career was disrupted by the attack. Kennedy is now seeking an unspecified amount of damages from the court for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and gender-motivated violence.

NME has contacted Rose's publicist for comment.