Speaking out. Steven Tyler is denying allegations that he sexually assaulted a minor in the 1970s.
The Aerosmith frontman, 75, responded to the claims — which were made in a December 2022 lawsuit — in a lengthy filing last week, arguing that the plaintiff, Julia Misley, consented to their sexual relationship. In the court documents, obtained by Us Weekly, Tyler also argued that he had qualified immunity as now-65-year-old Misley’s onetime legal guardian.
The rock icon requested that the lawsuit be dismissed entirely, alleging that Misley “has not suffered any injury or damage” as a result of his actions.
Tyler’s response comes three months after Misley filed a lawsuit accusing the “Dream On” singer of sexual assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. According to court documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times, the filing alleged that Tyler persuaded Misley to get an abortion as a teenager after she became pregnant with his child.
The lawsuit included quotes from the Grammy winner’s 2011 memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, in which he recalls having a relationship with a 16-year-old girl when he was 26.
The excerpt reads: “I was so in love I almost took a teen bride. I went and slept at her parents’ house for a couple of nights and her parents fell in love with me, signed paper over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state. I took her on tour with me.”
Misley’s legal team had a strong reaction to Tyler’s recent response to the lawsuit. “Never have we encountered a legal defense as obnoxious and potentially dangerous as the one that Tyler and his lawyers launched this week,” attorney Jeff Anderson wrote in a press release responding to the filing. “We hope Tyler’s mean-spirited gaslighting will backfire on him.”
The former American Idol judge has also made headlines over the years for his struggles with addiction. In May 2022, Aerosmith announced that they were canceling a string of their Las Vegas Residency dates due to Tyler relapsing.
“As many of you know, our beloved brother Steven has worked on his sobriety for many years,” read a statement shared via the band’s Instagram page at the time. “After foot surgery to prepare for the stage and the necessity of pain management during the process, he has recently relapsed and voluntarily entered a treatment program to concentrate on his health and recovery.”
Tyler spoke candidly about his experience using drugs in Aerosmith’s early days during a January 2019 interview with GQ.
“We would do cocaine to go up, quaaludes to come down. We would drink and then snort some coke until we thought we were straight,” the “Walk This Way” artist recalled. “But that’s not true — you’re just drunk and coked out.”
The New York native has also faced turmoil in his personal life, including two divorces: his 1987 split from Cyrinda Foxe after nine years of marriage and his 2006 divorce from Teresa Barrick after 18 years as husband and wife.
Steven shares daughter Liv Tyler, 45, with ex-girlfriend Bebe Buell, daughter Mia, 44, with Foxe, who died at 50 in 2002, and daughter Chelsea, 32, and son Taj, 32, with Barrick, 63.
