Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose used “fame, status and power” to violently rape a one-time Penthouse Pet back in his rock ’n’ roll heyday, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Sheila Kennedy, now 61, accuses Rose, also 61, of violently attacking her and anally raping her in a Manhattan hotel room in 1989, according to the complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court.
The assault allegedly took place in February 1989 after Kennedy — who was Penthouse’s Pet of the Year in 1983 — first met Rose at an unnamed New York City nightclub, the complaint states.
Kennedy had been invited to the club by a friend who was a Guns ‘N Roses fan but, according to the complaint, the model was not that familiar with Rose or his band.
After meeting Kennedy, Rose allegedly invited her back to his hotel room on Central Park West but did not want her friend to come along because the woman was “not hot enough” for his taste.
Rose provided cocaine, champagne and other alcohol for his guests, including Riki Rachtman, then host of the MTV show “Headbanger’s Ball,” according to the complaint — which also alleges that Kennedy feared Rose “could become dangerous” if he mixed alcohol and the prescription pills she says she spotted in the bathroom of his hotel suite.
The two shared a kiss at one point, the suit says, and Kennedy was “open to sleeping with [Rose] if things progressed and if they continued to find each other attractive.”
But things allegedly took a dark turn as Rose had the hotel suite cleared of everyone except himself, Rachtman, Kennedy and another female model.
All four got into bed and Rose allegedly began having sex with the other model in an “aggressive way” that “appeared painful” for the woman, according to the complaint.
“The encounter quickly became not just uncomfortable but disturbing,” the complaint states.
Kennedy, who did not want group sex, alleges she left the room with Rachtman but could hear Rose calling the other model a “whore” and the sound of glass shattering.
The “furious” Guns N’ Roses rocker found Kennedy in Rachtman’s room and “loomed threateningly” over her, the lawsuit says, knocking her to the floor and dragging her by her hair — “like a caveman” would — to his room.
The complaint alleges that Rose then tied a bleeding Kennedy’s hands behind her back with pantyhose and appeared to be in a “sexual, volatile rage” as he attacked her, “forcibly penetrating” her anus without consent.
“He treated her like property used solely for his sexual pleasure,” the complaint says, adding that Kennedy was left with “lifelong emotional, physical, psychological, and financial impacts.”
“Simply put, this incident never happened. Notably, these fictional claims were filed the day before the New York State filing deadline expires. Though he doesn’t deny the possibility of a fan photo taken in passing, Mr. Rose has no recollection of ever meeting or speaking to the Plaintiff, and has never heard about these fictional allegations prior to today. Mr. Rose is confident this case will be resolved in his favor,” said Rose’s attorney Alan S. Gutman in a statement.
Kennedy’s lawsuit was filed just before the deadline for the New York Adult Survivors Act expires at midnight Thursday.
The law allowed accusers to file lawsuits against their alleged sexual abusers even after the statute of limitations on their claims had run out.
During the course of her career, Kennedy appeared on the cover of Penthouse four times and was a competitor on the ninth season of “Big Brother.”
Her 2016 memoir, “No One’s Pet,” details her 10-year romantic relationship with Penthouse publisher. Bob Guccione.
Se previously made abuse allegations against Rose in the 2021 British documentary “Look Away,” about sexual abuse in rock.
“We expect that Sheila Kennedy’s decision to file this suit will be an important turning point for the music industry. Her account is unfortunately all too typical of a culture of violence and sexual misconduct that has been allowed to exist in plain sight for decades,” said Dr. Ann Olivarius, Chair of the Executive Committee at the McAllister Olivarius which represents Kennedy.
