On a night in 1973, after an Aerosmith show in Portland, Oregon, a 16 year old named Julia Holcomb says she ended up backstage, then in Steven Tyler’s hotel room.
In a lawsuit filed years later, she alleges that first night started a three year period in which Tyler “used his role, status, and power as a well-known musician and rock star to gain access to, groom, manipulate, exploit, sexually assault” her while she became dependent on his touring life across state lines. The lawsuit was first reported by Rolling Stone.
Holcomb is also known as Julia Misley, the name used in court filings. Her lawsuit describes a relationship shaped by age, fame, money, and a legal document that made it easier for an adult rock star to travel with a minor.
Portland, 1973
In the first amended complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Misley alleges Aerosmith played Portland, she was invited backstage, and Tyler took her and another person to his hotel room. The complaint says Tyler then required the other person to leave, discussed her age with her, and asked about her parents and why she was out late.
The complaint alleges Misley told Tyler she was 16, and that she was dealing with struggles at home. It then alleges Tyler committed “criminal sexual conduct” against her that night, had her stay at the hotel, and sent her home in the morning by taxi.
Before she left, the complaint says Tyler invited her to Seattle for the band’s next concert, and said he would buy a plane ticket so she could travel separately because she was a minor. The filing describes this as part of how the relationship continued across state lines early on.
In the lawsuit’s framing, that first sequence matters because it sets the pattern. A teenager, a famous musician, and a private space where adults controlled the exits, the transportation, and the story that would be told later.
Seattle and the pressure to keep coming back
Misley’s complaint says she used the ticket to fly to Seattle, stayed in Tyler’s hotel room after the show, and that he performed sexual acts on her again. She then returned to Portland the next day, again using the ticket provided in the complaint’s account.
After Seattle, the complaint alleges Tyler continued to pursue her through frequent phone calls. It says he made statements meant to induce her to visit again, including telling her he wrote a song for her and wishing she could be in the recording studio with him.
The story in the court filing then moves into a more sustained arrangement. Once Misley finished her sophomore year, the complaint alleges Tyler caused her to travel to Boston, told her he wanted her to stay with him instead of returning to school, and promised to provide for her while she traveled with him and the band.
In that same section, the complaint says Tyler continued to sexually assault her. It also says she was powerless to resist his fame and financial power, and that he coerced her into believing the situation was a “romantic love affair.”
The paper that changed what travel looked like
The lawsuit’s turning point is a guardianship arrangement. Misley alleges that around 1974, Tyler and his agents took steps for him to become her guardian, so he could travel with her more easily and avoid criminal prosecution.
The complaint says Tyler met with her mother and convinced her to sign over guardianship, making promises and inducements about Julia’s well being. It lists examples, enrolling her in school, supporting her, and providing better medical care and support than her mother could at the time.
In Misley’s account, those promises did not translate into protection. The complaint alleges Tyler failed to follow through meaningfully, and instead continued traveling with her, assaulting her, and providing alcohol and drugs.
This is where the story starts to look less like a messy rock relationship and more like a logistical system. Who can cross state lines with a minor. Who controls money and transportation. Who can call a parent and present guardianship as care.
It is also where Tyler’s defense later focused. In his legal response, as described in press coverage, he denied the allegations and raised defenses that included consent and claims of immunity or qualified immunity tied to his role as caregiver or guardian.
Pregnancy, isolation, and the abortion described in the lawsuit
Misley’s complaint says that in about 1975 she became pregnant as a result of sexual acts, and that Tyler was both the father of the unborn child and her legal guardian. It describes him as her sole source of income, transportation, and support.
The filing alleges Tyler instructed her that she could not seek prenatal medical care because he would get in trouble if paternity questions arose with providers. It also alleges he continued exerting influence over her, including telling her he wrote and recorded another song inspired by her.
The complaint then includes a specific incident during the pregnancy. It alleges that in the fall of 1975, Tyler left her alone in his Massachusetts apartment with little food, little money, and without a car while he toured. It alleges a fire occurred, she lost consciousness from smoke inhalation, and woke in a Catholic hospital with Tyler beside her.
The complaint says medical staff told them she would recover and that the baby was unharmed. It then alleges Tyler pressured and coerced her into an abortion by threatening to send her back to her family and withdraw support and affection.
The filing alleges Tyler’s agents were present and helped arrange the abortion at a different facility because the Catholic hospital did not provide abortions. It says she relented and the abortion was performed.
These are allegations, and they sit at the center of why the case is treated as more than a story about sex, consent, and the 1970s. The complaint frames the pregnancy and abortion as events that depended on control, dependency, and fear of legal consequences.
Leaving the touring world and building a different life
After the abortion, the complaint says Misley chose to leave what it describes as a sexualized, drug influenced world tied to Tyler and the industry. It says she returned to Portland and over the years rebuilt her life, obtained a GED, attended college, and became active in her Christian faith. (Scribd)
The filing says she married, started a family, and became devoted to the Catholic faith. It describes her seeking comfort and counseling through a priest, and says she kept her private shame in silence and secrecy.
That part of the complaint reads like a deliberate contrast to the years described before it. A private life, built with distance from the celebrity machine, and structured around family and faith rather than touring schedules and backstage access.
But the lawsuit argues distance did not hold. The next section claims her life was shaken again through Tyler’s later publications.
The memoir problem and “involuntary infamy”
In the complaint, Misley alleges Tyler made widespread publications and statements for profit that described his abuse of her without her knowledge or consent. The filing says those writings characterized the assaults as a romantic, loving relationship, and that the public exposure aggravated her trauma and blocked healing.
The complaint also points to Tyler’s memoir language that described a relationship with a 16 year old and mentioned her parents signing over custody so he would not get arrested for taking her out of state. The filing argues that this amounted to a confession of wrongdoing and a justification of it.
The complaint claims that by including her name in acknowledgements, the public could identify her. It alleges she later saw herself on a tabloid cover while standing in a grocery store line, with the story framing her as Tyler’s teen lover and reprinting sexualized quotes about her.
Misley’s lawsuit uses a specific phrase for the harm caused by that kind of exposure, “involuntary infamy.” It alleges she was forced into disclosures and apologies to family members, including her husband and children, because a story she tried to keep private had turned into a public anecdote tied to a famous man’s career narrative.
This part of the case became a legal battleground on its own. Tyler’s lawyers argued that claims tied to his memoirs were protected speech and time barred. In March 2024, People reported that a Los Angeles court struck the parts of Misley’s complaint that claimed intentional infliction of emotional distress based on Tyler’s publication of his memoirs, citing the statute of limitations and First Amendment protections.
That ruling narrowed the lawsuit’s shape. The memoir related emotional distress claim was reduced, leaving the core allegations about sexual assault and battery as the main focus of what the case could become at trial.
The lawsuit, the denial, and the defenses
Misley filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court under California’s Child Victims Act framework, including Code of Civil Procedure 340.1 as amended by AB 218, according to the complaint. The filing argues that her claims are timely under the revival window created by that legislation.
At first, Tyler was listed as Doe 1 in the complaint. Entertainment Weekly reported that the court provided legal approval to name him as a defendant in early 2023.
Tyler’s response, as summarized by Entertainment Weekly, denied each allegation and asked for dismissal with prejudice. The same coverage said his filing listed 24 affirmative defenses, which included arguments tied to consent, lack of injury, and immunity related to guardianship.
This is the tension running through the legal fight. Misley’s complaint frames the guardianship and the relationship as tools of exploitation, built on age and power. Tyler’s legal position, as described in court response coverage, pushes the court toward consent, legal technicalities, and defenses that seek to shut the case down before a jury hears it.
A separate case in New York, and what it signaled
While Misley’s case moved forward in California, another lawsuit in New York added pressure to Tyler’s public image. Reuters reported that a federal judge in Manhattan permanently dismissed a separate sexual assault lawsuit filed by Jeanne Bellino, who accused Tyler of assault in 1975.
That dismissal mattered for two reasons. It showed how strongly these cases can turn on statutes, filing windows, and the exact language of revival laws. It also kept attention on the California case as the one with the most room to reach a trial on the underlying allegations.
Where the Misley case stood in the latest reports
As the case continued, the biggest questions shifted from what happened in the 1970s to whether a jury would ever hear those claims.
In August 2025, Billboard reported that a judge postponed the civil trial until 2026, after a dispute over delaying the schedule. The same period brought renewed reporting about a pending effort by Tyler to dismiss the case before trial.
Because some of that late stage coverage sits behind paywalls or appears through secondary reporting, the cleanest way to describe the moment is simple. The lawsuit remained active, the defense kept pressing for dismissal, and the timeline for trial became part of the fight itself.
If the case reaches trial, the courtroom version of this story will likely focus on the paper trail, the guardianship, what the law allowed, and what a jury believes about coercion and consent in a relationship that began when the plaintiff was 16.
This is nuts!