Axl Rose settles sexual abuse lawsuit and continues to ‘deny the allegations’
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- Axl Rose has settled Sheila Kennedy’s sexual assault lawsuit
- The Guns N’ Roses rocker previously tried to have the lawsuit, filed in November 2023, dismissed in March 2024
- “As I have denied from the beginning, I deny the allegations. There was no assault,” Rose tells PEOPLE
Axl Roos has arranged one sexual abuse lawsuit PEOPLE was first filed against him by a former model in November 2023.
News of the December 4 settlement comes nearly nine months after the settlement Guns N’ Roses rocker, 62, and his legal team tried to get the lawsuit — which claims Sheila Kennedy was sexually assaulted by the singer at a New York City hotel in 1989 — fired in March.
At the time, Rose’s legal team quoted Kennedy’s 2016 memoir: Nobody’s petin which she described the alleged incident as “consensual sex,” according to documents obtained and reviewed by PEOPLE. They also highlighted past interviews with the model, including one time Kennedy, 62, said in the 2021 documentary Look away she “did not consider it rape,” adding that the incident was “consensual.”
In settling the lawsuit, Rose’s attorney, E. Danya Perry, told PEOPLE, “Mr. Rose has suffered greatly from this lawsuit, and I am glad he can now move on with his life.”
In a separate statement, Rose said: “As I have denied from the beginning, I deny the allegations. There was no assault.”
In a complaint filed just before the expiration of the NY Adult Survivors Act on November 22, 2023, Kennedy sued Rose for alleged assault and batteryalleging that the rock legend “targeted” her by using his fame and celebrity status to “manipulate, control and violently sexually abuse” her, PEOPLE previously reported.
According to documents reviewed by PEOPLE, Kennedy recalled leaving a nightclub for his hotel suite with Rose and a group of acquaintances. There, as the evening progressed, she claimed she felt “uncomfortable” after watching the singer have sex with another model and attempt to have group sex.
After leaving his hotel room, Kennedy claimed that Rose eventually found her and knocked her to the ground before he “grabbed her by the hair and dragged her” back to his bedroom in a “very painful” encounter.
Once in Rose’s room, the former model claimed he eventually tied her hands behind her back before “forcibly penetrating” Kennedy without asking for permission. “He treated her as property to be used solely for his sexual pleasure,” the complaint said.
The complaint added: “Kennedy did not consent and felt overwhelmed. She felt like she couldn’t escape or escape and was forced to agree. She believed that Rose would physically attack her, or worse, if she said no or tried to push him away. I understood that the safest thing to do was to lie in bed and wait for Rose to finish attacking her.”
In her 2016 memoir, Kennedy claimed she “cried and bled” when the musician allegedly attacked her. “Strangely enough, I was okay with this. I wanted to be with him ever since I first saw him, and now I got him. When he was done, he untied me and we chatted around for a while. ,” she wrote.
Kennedy also wrote while there were “a lot of people who wanted to see him burn in hell,” she felt differently about it, adding, “I don’t feel that way about him, but I do feel that he everything he deserved.”
Rose’s legal team has consistently denied Kennedy’s claims since the lawsuit was first filed, with attorney Alan S. Gutman telling PEOPLE in November, “Simply put, this incident never happened. Notably, these fictitious claims were filed the day before the New York State filing deadline passes… Mr. Rose is confident that this case will be resolved in his favor.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org.