Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has been accused of sexually assaulting a former teen model in a new lawsuit filed Thursday in New York. The allegations stem from “approximately” 1975, when the plaintiff, Jeanne Bellino, was 17 years old.
During the summer of that year, the lawsuit states, Bellino was signed with a children’s modeling agency and traveled to Manhattan from her home in Queens with a group of local young models; she and a friend had planned their travel together and were going to share the costs. According to the lawsuit, the friend had arranged for the two of them to meet with Aerosmith after a weekend fashion show at the Warwick Hotel.
After Bellino and her friend met with Tyler and his entourage, her lawsuit claims that they began walking down 6th Avenue in Manhattan with “around a half a dozen people who appeared to be bandmates and other people affiliated with Aerosmith.” During that walk, Bellino allegedly made a comment that irritated Tyler, who responded by forcing her into a phone booth, her suit claims.
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“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 lawsuit states. “As Tyler was mauling and groping Plaintiff, he was humping her pretending to have sex with Plaintiff.”
At the time, Bellino weighed about 115 pounds, the lawsuit states, and Tyler, who was around 27 years old, allegedly overpowered her.
“Tyler forcefully inserted his tongue into Plaintiff’s mouth, without her consent,” the lawsuit states. “Tyler’s penis was erect and it was evident to her as he rubbed it against her that he was not wearing underwear and wearing thin pants. Plaintiff fought back and struggled to be free but Tyler restrained her.”
Eventually, the lawsuit states, Bellino grabbed the back of Tyler’s head, pulling his hair and raising her knee, at which point the singer allegedly exited the phone booth as she ran out. This was allegedly her first sexual experience.
Because of the transportation arrangements Bellino said she had made with her friend, the lawsuit states that she continued on with the group to the Warwick Hotel despite feeling “helpless and panicked.” At the hotel, Tyler “again pinned Plaintiff against the wall, put his tongue down her throat and started humping Plaintiff, simulating sex.”
Once again, the lawsuit claims, witnesses did not intervene. “Plaintiff again resisted and pulled his hair, getting her right arm free and he whispered in her ear, ‘I’m going in my room to do something quick.’”
After Tyler left, the lawsuit states, Bellino cried in the lobby until a phone call came through to the lobby, allegedly summoning her to Tyler’s room. She was allegedly “paralyzed” and shook her head, eventually fleeing to the door, where a doorman “flung” her into a cab and yelled at the driver to go. Once she got home, the lawsuit states, she shared what had happened with her sister.
Bellino’s lawsuit states that since the alleged incident with Tyler, 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.” The suit adds that she was hospitalized and medicated because of the incident and still needs medication “to cope with the sexual assault and has suffered long term physical injury associated with the trauma.”
According to her lawsuit, Bellino is seeking “an amount that will fully and fairly compensate” her for the “injuries and damages” she allegedly suffered. She is also seeking a trial by jury.
Tyler’s publicist and attorney did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
This is not the first sexual assault allegation to emerge against Tyler. Last year, Rolling Stone reported on a lawsuit in which plaintiff Julia Misley (formerly Holcomb) alleged that Tyler had persuaded her mother to grant him guardianship over her at the age of 16, at which point they were allegedly able to live together and share a sexual relationship for about three years starting in 1973. A representative for the singer did not immediately respond to the magazine’s request for comment at the time, but he has since denied the allegations.
