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A former Penthouse magazine model has filed a sexual assault lawsuit in New York against Axl Rose, the frontman of rock band Guns N’ Roses.
Model Sheila Kennedy, who was once named “Pet Of The Year” by Penthouse, said the incident happened on the same night she first met Rose inside a New York City nightclub in 1989, according to the lawsuit. Kennedy was 26 years old at the time.
The lawsuit was filed in court Wednesday and was first reported by Rolling Stone magazine.
Kennedy, who previously discussed her encounter with Rose in a 2016 memoir, accused Rose of dragging her “like a caveman” into his hotel room, tying her up, and raping her in a “sexual, volatile rage.”
“He treated her like property used solely for his sexual pleasure. Kennedy did not consent and felt overpowered. She felt she had no escape or exit. She believed Rose would physically attack her, or worse, if she said no or attempted to push him away,” the lawsuit states.
Kennedy had gone to the nightclub with a friend, hoping to meet the famous band members. Rose invited Kennedy, a second model, and MTV host Riki Rachtman to an after-party inside his hotel room suite. Once they arrived at the hotel, Rose passed around cocaine, champagne, and other alcohol to his guests while “encouraging group sex,” the lawsuit states.
Some of the party guests were in Rose’s bedroom together when Rose allegedly began having “aggressive” sex with the other model, the lawsuit states. Kennedy said she began to feel uncomfortable because the model was in pain and Kennedy was not interested in group sexual encounters.
Kennedy was attempting to leave the bedroom with Rachtman when they heard glass shattering and Rose screaming at the other model, “You’re a f—— w—-. Get the f— out of here,” according to the suit.
Rachtman allegedly warned Kennedy that “it’s going to get bad.”
Kennedy went into Rachtman’s bedroom down the hall, the suit states. An angry Rose allegedly stormed into Rachtman’s room, found Kennedy, and yelled, “What the f— are you doing here?”
Rose then allegedly pushed Kennedy down to the floor. “While Kennedy was on the ground, Rose grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the suite back to his bedroom,” attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.
Once they were back inside Rose’s bedroom, he allegedly threw the model on the floor. “For a brief moment, Kennedy crawled frantically around the floor, crying, bleeding, and trying to gather her belongings,” the lawsuit states.
Rose allegedly tied her up face-down using pantyhose, attorneys wrote.
“Kennedy was trapped. 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,” attorneys wrote.
Kennedy never gave her consent, her attorneys claim. The model was terrified that Rose would beat her if she tried to make the sexual assault stop, and she waited until he finished before she dared to move away from the bed.
The lawsuit states, “Rose targeted Kennedy in 1989, when he was at the peak of his commercial success. Rose used his fame, status, and power as a celebrity and performer in the music industry to gain access to manipulate, control, and violently sexually assault Kennedy.”
Following the incident, Kennedy said her career went downhill. She said she also suffered from PTSD whenever she heard Guns N’ Roses’ songs and struggled with anxiety and depression. The model avoids nightclubs and social scenarios where she could encounter Rose or hear his music playing, her attorney claimed.
She currently lives in Palm Springs, California.
Rose lives in Malibu, California. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rose’s “bad boy” public image was celebrated and promoted by his record label, Geffen Records, Kennedy’s attorneys wrote.
The cover of Guns N’ Roses’ 1987 album, “Appetite for Destruction,” features a drawing of a battered young woman with underwear pulled down around her legs.
Rose’s lawyer denied the claims in a statement to People, saying the incident “never happened” and that Rose “has no recollection of ever meeting or speaking to” Kennedy.
Nexstar’s KRON has reached out to Axl Rose’s representation for comment.
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