Guns N’ Roses Frontman Axl Rose accused of 1989 sexual assault in latest lawsuit

Axl Rose, whose real name is William Bruce Rose, is set to face a jury trial for violent sexual assault charges. Former Penthouse model, Sheila Kennedy filed a case accusing the Guns N’ Roses lead singer of sexual assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and gender-motivated violence. However, this is not the singer’s first lawsuit as he has previously been accused by his former partners Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour of sexual and domestic violence charges.

This lawsuit is not Kennedy’s first or sudden claim of abuse against Axl Rose as she had previously talked about it in the 2021 documentary Look Away, as well as her 2016 autobiography No One’s Pet. Winner of the 1983 Pet of the Year, Sheila Kennedy has claimed in her lawsuit that a friend of hers had initially invited her to a party at a NY nightclub in 1989, to try and meet the band.

However, her friend had later been denied invitation to Axl Rose’s hotel for a party, as according to the singer she was “not hot enough.” Kennedy, future MTV host Riki Rachtman, and another model accompanied Axl back to his hotel. In the hotel room, Rose plied his guests with drugs and alcohol. When Kennedy visited and came out the bathroom, Rose stood outside the door and “pushed Kennedy against the wall and kissed her.”

The former model had found the singer attractive then and would not have minded sleeping with him in the future. However, she was in for a cruel shock. As Axl Rose started having sex with the other model while Kennedy and Rachtman were in the room and encouraged them to join in for ‘group sex,’ the latter two escaped to his bedroom, giving them privacy. But after a while, the tinkling of breaking glass and a screaming Rose was heard, yelling slurs at the model and kicking her out.

After that, Sheila Kennedy claims that Axl Rose came into his bedroom, saw the two and dragged Kennedy by her hair, to his bed. Bleeding from her knees by being scraped across the room, Sheila Kennedy was then thrown onto his bed, tied up by pantyhose, and then proceeded to forcefully penetrate her anally. Kennedy strongly asserted that she never consented to that violent encounter and felt powerless while it was happening.