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On November 22, Axl Rose, the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N’ Roses was sued by former model and actress Sheila Kennedy under the soon-to-expire Adult Survivors Act.
Trigger warning: This article mentions s*xual abuse/assault. Readers’ discretion is advised.
Kennedy has accused Axl Rose of alleged s*xual assault dating back to 1989 and claimed that the incident happened at the musician’s hotel room in New York City after they met at a nightclub party.
As per USA Today, the lawsuit was filed on Wednesday at the New York County Supreme Court and accused Rose of allegedly using “his fame, status, and power as a celebrity and performer in the music industry to gain access to manipulate, control, and violently s*xually assault Kennedy.”
All you need to know about Sheila Kennedy in the wake of her lawsuit against Axl Rose
Now 61 years old, Sheila Kennedy is a former model and actress. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, she later moved to New York to study acting, followed by Los Angeles, to pursue her career, as per Pinkvilla.
She is best remembered for being featured on the Penthouse magazine cover in December 1981 as the Pet of the Month and later Pet of the Year in 1983. Her acting ventures include adult comedies such as The First Turn-On!, Spring Break, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, and Ellie.
Sheila Kennedy also appeared and won third place in the reality TV show Big Brother 9 and The Doctors in 2008 as well as the talk show Late Night With David Letterman. She also co-hosted House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show.
Currently, she has a teenage son named Mikhail and owns a dog named Kitty. As per Networth, her estimated life earnings amount to $13 million.
In 2016, she wrote and published her memoir, titled No One’s Pet, where she talked about her time spent in Penthouse Mansion, her relationship with the magazine founder and publisher Bob Guccione, and accused Rose of s*xual assault.
Not only that, but in the 2021 British documentary, Look Away, based on s*xual abuse in the rock music industry, Kennedy narrated her real-life encounter with the Gun N’ Roses frontman and recalled being a victim of his violent s*xual assault in the late 1980s.
Exploring, in brief, Shiela Kennedy’s allegations against Axl Rose
On Wednesday, two days before the deadline of the Adult Survivors Act, Sheila Kennedy filed a civil lawsuit against Guns N’ Roses founder Axl Rose, accusing him of s*xual assault at a New York City hotel in 1989.
As per the lawsuit documents obtained by USA Today, Axl Rose reportedly was co-hosting a party at his hotel suite with MTV’s Riki Rachtman, which had prescription drugs, cocaine, and alcohol. Kennedy then reportedly observed that Rose began having intercourse with another model which “appeared painful.”
This is when, Kennedy claimed that she moved to another room in the hotel suite, which allegedly angered Axl Rose, who came and knocked her down to the floor. The former Penthouse model also alleged that Rose dragged her to his bedroom “like a caveman and acted with uncontrolled fury.” In addition, he also restrained her and then started “forcibly penetrating.”
The lawsuit also mentions that Axl Rose did not bother for Kennedy’s consent and simply treated her as a “property” meant “solely for his s*xual pleasure,” and did not bother to use protection.
As per Kennedy’s claims in the s*xual battery and assault suit, she has experienced "lifelong emotional, physical, psychological, and financial impacts" to her life and “symptoms akin to post-traumatic stress disorder whenever she hears Rose's name or the music of Guns N' Roses." She also blamed Rose for impacting her career, as she often felt uncomfortable in certain social settings which triggered the trauma.
USA Today reported that Sheila Kennedy has requested a jury trial alongside compensation for the alleged s*xual assault.
Meanwhile, Axl Rose’s lawyer Alan Gutman said that his client pled not guilty to all the allegations and told the news outlet:
"Simply put, this incident never happened. Notably, these fictional claims were filed the day before the New York State filing deadline expires. Though he doesn’t deny the possibility of a fan photo taken in passing, Mr. Rose has no recollection of ever meeting or speaking to the plaintiff, and has never heard about these fictional allegations prior to today."
In contrast, Kennedy’s attorney Ann Olivarius told USA Today that her client’s suit could be “an important turning point for the music industry,” as it was not just individuals but the entire industry that often stepped out of line and then tried to cover up their s*xual misconduct and crimes, by “silencing survivors and normalizing s*xual assault.” She also hoped that Sheila’s “bravery” helped other victims find their voices.
According to The Guardian, Axl Rose has been previously accused of domestic violence by his ex-partners Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour. The former even sued the Guns N’ Roses icon in 1994, which was later settled out of court.
