Guns N’ Roses Frontman Axl Rose Slapped with Lawsuit Over Alleged 1989 Sexual Assault
(Editor’s note: This post includes some graphic descriptions of what allegedly went down, so consider yourself warned if sexual assault is a trigger for you.)
Some pretty brutal allegations against Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose have made their way out into the public eye, as a newly filed lawsuit paints a disturbing image of a drug-fueled New York City hotel party gone wrong back in 1989.
Filed in New York Supreme Court by ex-Penthouse model and Pet of the Year Sheila Kennedy, the lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone alleges that Rose had been sexually violent with her and another model. Kennedy alleged in her suit that she’d met Rose at a nightclub and was invited back to his hotel room for the aforementioned party.
Once at the room, Rose, Kennedy, the other model, and eventual MTV host Riki Rachtman started hanging out. According to the lawsuit, Rose openly offered cocaine, champagne, and other alcohol to the guests. At one point Kennedy alleged that as she was exiting the hotel bathroom, Rose was waiting for her outside the door, where he “pushed Kennedy against the wall and kissed her.” At that time, Kennedy admits she was into the interaction, stating that she “was open to sleeping with him if things progressed.”
The suit alleges that later on in the night, Rose started having sex with the other model while Rachtman and Kennedy were still in the room. That sort of thing made Kennedy feel uncomfortable, especially since she alleges that Rose was “aggressive in a way that appeared painful for the model” and kept insisting that everyone get involved in group sex. Rather than stick around, Kennedy recalls leaving to go to Rachtman’s room in the same suite.
Shortly there after, the lawsuit alleges that Kennedy heard glass shattering from Rose’s room as he screamed profanities and insults at the model he was just having sex with. Kennedy alleges that Rachtman then told her that “it’s going to get bad.”
Neither Rachtman nor Rose responded to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Rose then found Kennedy in Rachtman’s room, at which point he allegedly pushed her to the floor and dragged her across the suite to his room. Once there, she alleges that he threw her face down on his bed and tied her hands behind her back with pantyhose and forcibly have anal sex with her without her consent.
Rather than paraphrase what happened next, here’s what Kennedy alleges in the lawsuit:
“Kennedy lay there on the bed with her hands tied behind her back, bleeding, vulnerable, and alone with Rose while he was in a sexual, volatile rage. Kennedy had just witnessed Rose violently have sex with another woman. He dragged Kennedy to his bedroom like a caveman and acted with uncontrolled fury. Rose had physically stopped her from leaving. Kennedy was trapped.
“He treated her like property used solely for his sexual pleasure. He did not use a condom. Kennedy did not consent and felt overpowered. She felt she had no escape or exit and was compelled to acquiesce. She believed Rose would physically attack her, or worse, if she said no or attempted to push him away. She understood that the safest thing to do was to lie in bed and wait for Rose to finish assaulting her.”
Following the incident, Kennedy claims she suffers from PTSD-like symptoms whenever she hears Guns N’ Roses music or hears Rose’s name. Her lawsuit also claims that she’s been dealing with anxiety and depression for more than 30 years as a result of the sexual assault and that’s resulted in negative outcomes in her career.
The suit is listing the charges as “assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and gender-motivated violence.” Kennedy is asking the court to help her determine and recover unspecified damages as a result of the incident.
Now, this isn’t the first time Rose has been the subject of domestic and sexual abuse claims in the past. In fact, his former partners Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour detailed their experiences in a 1994 People magazine article. Kennedy herself has made this assault known in the past, both in her 2016 autobiography No One’s Pet and the 2021 documentary Look Away.
