Steven Tyler facing new accusations of sexual assault

Steven Tyler is now facing a second lawsuit for sexual assault. Earlier this year, Julia Misley filed a suit against Tyler claiming that he was granted guardianship over her so that they could have a sexual relationship when she was just 16 years old. (Tyler wrote about the relationship in his memoir.) Now, another woman has come forward to accuse Tyler of assaulting her when she was 17 and he was 27 years old.

Jeanne Bellino is a former child model who claims in her suit that she and a friend met Aerosmith around 1975. While walking in Manhattan with Tyler and members of his entourage, Bellino alleges that her question about a song lyric upset Tyler and he forced her into a nearby phone booth. “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 suit says (via Rolling Stone). “As Tyler was mauling and groping Plaintiff, he was humping her pretending to have sex with Plaintiff. Others stood by outside the phone booth laughing and as passersby watched and witnessed, nobody in the entourage intervened.”

Bellino claims that “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.” She managed to free herself and escaped the phone booth “in shock and fear”; it was reportedly the teenager’s first sexual experience.

According to the suit, Bellino stayed with the group because she was relying on her friend for transportation. She alleges that Tyler assaulted her again when they returned to the band’s hotel. Tyler then told her he would call her up to his room and went upstairs. Bellino says she was shaking and sobbing and rather than go upstairs, she “bolted toward the door” and was put into a cab by a doorman who had witnessed the incident. She reportedly told her sister what she experienced immediately upon returning home.

Bellino’s suit asserts that 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” and still relies on medication “to cope with the sexual assault and has suffered long-term physical injury associated with the trauma.”

“This is not just about a serial predator named Steven Tyler, it’s about an industry that’s given him cover, that’s given him permission, that’s given him profits and prestige, and has known for decades that he was a peril to teenagers,” Bellino’s lawyer Jeff Anderson, who also represents Misley, said in a statement to People. “We have good reason to know that this has been a pattern of conduct for decades, both permitted by this industry.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.