A former Penthouse magazine model sued Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose on Wednesday, claiming he raped her in a 1989 attack at a New York City hotel, causing her anxiety and despair and jeopardizing her career. Sheila Kennedy, 61, sued in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, demanding specific compensatory and punitive damages for bodily injury, pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, mental agony, humiliation, shame, anxiety, and economic hardship.
The lawsuit was filed against Rose, 61, of Malibu, California, under a temporary New York law, the Adult Survivors Act, that lets adult victims sue over attacks that occurred even decades ago. The law expires after Thursday.
Attorney Alan S. Gutman said in a statement on behalf of Rose: “Simply put, this incident never happened. Notably, these fictional claims were filed the day before the New York State filing deadline expires.”
In her lawsuit, Kennedy, of Palm Springs, California, alleges that she met Rose in February 1989 in a Manhattan nightclub, where the singer invited her to join a party in his hotel suite afterward.
According to the lawsuit, Kennedy saw Rose have sex with another model before he became angry with the woman, ordering her out of his suite.
He then turned toward Kennedy, dragging her across a floor by the hair and tying her hands together with pantyhose, before assaulting her from behind, the lawsuit said.
“Rose made no attempt to ask for or check that Kennedy was consenting,” the lawsuit said. “He treated her like property used solely for his sexual pleasure.”
The lawsuit said the attack left Kennedy with lifelong emotional, physical, psychological and financial damage and “symptoms akin to post-traumatic stress disorder whenever she hears Rose’s name or the music of Guns N’ Roses.”
She was diagnosed with anxiety and depression because of the attack and her earnings have suffered because she has avoided nightclubs and social scenarios where she could encounter Rose or hear his music, and those social contacts are important for her career, the lawsuit said.
