Sheila Kennedy vs Axl Rose, Jamie Foxx vs Jane Doe and The List Keeps Growing (Updated)

Sheila Kennedy and Axl Rose decades after the allegations happened.

The Adult Survivor's Act in New York was temporary, and the window closes at midnight on November 24, 2023. This means that survivors of s*xual assault need to get their cases filed before Friday to have their cases considered in court. Even though this is a dire subject, I feel as though the survivors should get standing ovations for pushing well-known, despicable people into the spotlight and calling them what they are-Entitled Predators. Right under the wire, Diddy got his ass handed to him, and it was so long in coming that it was like someone had lifted a lid off of a Pandora's Box, and everybody had a very nasty story to tell about him. Even I had stories about him, and after I wrote the story, I got another one from my cousin's fiancée*. Even after he settled his case, stories are being told about him. I sincerely hope this is the same for Axl Rose, Jamie Foxx, and a fistful of other bad actors. 

Sheila around the time of the assault. 

In the case against William Bruce Rose Jr, aka Axl Rose, Sheila Kennedy, a former Penthouse model, says that he forced himself on her and describes a scene that must be activating unpleasant memories for his exes, Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly of the Everly Brothers and supermodel Stephanie Seymour. In 1994, each filed suit against him for abuse and violence. Each case was eventually settled out of court. But the details painted a picture of a very disturbed man and his sexually violent behavior.  

Axl and ex-wife Erin Everly

As I was researching this article about Axl's past behavior and his exes, I looked at articles written back in 1989 and the early '90s about his explosive and extremely depraved abusive relationships. Axl acted more like a captor than a husband or loving boyfriend. The details are deeply disturbing and hard to read, yet after reading Sheila's account, a theme begins to emerge, and in each case, his behavior is eerily similar. Erin Everly was Rose's muse and the inspiration for Sweet Child O' Mine, a song penned during what was presumably an upswing in an otherwise violent marriage. Stephanie starred in the video for November Rain, and back then, they were a coveted couple, the old cliché of the model and the rockstar; however, the public had no idea she was caught in a savage nightmare.

Some of my research led me to Axl apologist sites, which are quick to point out that Erin fought him too, and she was the provocateur and gave as good she got. Yes, that tired trope is still being trotted out in 2023 when everyone should know better. Never mind that a recording of her defending herself against his punches ended up in a song or that he filmed a scene for a video for It's So Easy with her that was too violent to be included in the final cut. I won't include a photo of the video because it is too dark and ugly, and it makes me feel dirty to even look at it and know the truth about their marriage. 

Erin and Axl

It is not uncommon for a victim to work up the courage to fight back occasionally, but that doesn't mean they aren't overwhelmingly the victim of 95 percent of the abuse. It just means they dug deep within, and a primal instinct to protect oneself took over. It never excuses the abuser, and it should never be thought of as a way to absolve them. One man, who I nicknamed Mr. Sensitivity even said she could have left at any time. I try to take into account that this was before the OJ Simpson trial, after which the ideas surrounding domestic violence began to change. However, this was still reiterated by others in the 2000s.  Axl's violent nature even had him chasing David Bowie down the street for flirting with Erin, giving more credence to her claim that he was full of rage and ready to throw punches whenever he was "provoked". But Bowie deserved to be punched, say his Guns N' Roses fans, because of his reputation as a girlfriend thief. Inexplicably, they became friendly again at a later date. 

His type is the same: brownish hair, and blue or green eyes.
Axl and Stephanie on the set of one of his videos. 

In Seymour's case, Axl sued her back for stealing 100,000 dollars worth of jewelry and attacking him, and she sued him for being physically abusive to her. She wanted Erin Everly to testify on her behalf to prove her case but it never came that. Seymour eventually moved on to a more luxurious marriage to billionaire Peter Brandt. (The two lived a few blocks from the Flagship Dean and Deluca in Soho (RIP) NYC, and a shop on the ground floor emanated a truly weird smell. Stephanie complained, so he bought the building. I will never forget that story.) Seymour went from rock chick to socialite mother of 5. But her life hasn't been without scandals and a near very ugly divorce in 2010. Also, tragically, her son died of a drug overdose in 2021. Otherwise, it looks like she put Axl firmly in her rearview mirror from outward appearances and her seeming silence on her past. Still, the reports about what he did to her are shockingly identical to Erin's allegations that include r*pe, torture, tying her up, and dragging her by the hair. 

Erin

Erin remarried after dating Anthony Keidis, David Arquette, and some lesser-known rockers, but, in a few short years, was divorced again and arrested for domestic violence in 2010 for wielding a knife against her ex-boyfriend. Not much is known beyond those facts about her life after Axl, but it appears what is known shows a tumultuous life after his horrific abuse. Some of the behaviors exhibited by Seymour and Everly make me wonder if some of their questionable behavior afterward resulted from what they endured at the hands of Axl. We will never know, but it would hardly be surprising. 

Sheila as a blonde Penthouse Pet

Since his violence against women is well recorded, and Rose's modus operandi includes everything Sheila alleges, his pattern is easy to establish. In 1989, Sheila was assaulted, dragged by her hair, and, like many victims at the time, didn't react in a stereotypical fashion; she gave in out of fear of what he would do if she didn't. This reaction will be hard for some people to understand. Also, staying with him and having consensual s*x afterward is common, too. It is a trauma response and a desperate need to normalize what just happened. His fame and money muddied the waters because, on one hand, she felt chosen and lucky, and on the other, she knew she was being used like she didn't matter.

Sheila Kennedy today

Sexual assault is not cut and dry, and it can take years for people to admit to themselves what had happened to them. Even in Axl's case, his problems and volatile behaviors were well-known, something he said was caused by being sexually assaulted by his father and having a physically abusive stepfather. Ironically, he did not recall the former until he was an adult.  This does not excuse anything and, in fact, further strengthens Kennedy's case. It is time for Axl to face his past and his lengthy history of r*pe, brutality, violence, and egregious behavior. It is a shame he can't be thrown under a forgotten prison, but that can't happen now; only a form of civil justice, and that is at least something. 

This can also be said about the other high-profile men whose cases were filed because of the temporary Adult Survivor's Act. As I was starting to write this article on Wednesday evening, an unnamed woman in New York City alleged that Eric Marlon Bishop, aka Jamie Foxx, assaulted her on the rooftop of a restaurant called Catch NYC & Roof in New York City in 2015. After her friend asked if she and "Jane Doe" could take a picture with him, he replied, "Anything for you, baby." and kept complimenting her; some sources claim he was flirting, but that isn't flirting. It is called sexual aggression by telling her, "She looked like Gabrielle Union" and "She had a supermodel body". Inappropriate men think by "complementing" a woman's body, she should feel grateful and flattered, which then gives them license to behave any way they want. Throw some fame onto that fire, and it can get out of control.  Since the story is developing, there aren't many more details about the victim except what she says took place on the rooftop. 

Chris Brown and Jamie Foxx pals who collaborated on a song.
If you are the company you keep, then...

Like Axl Rose, though, Jamie has a prior claim of inappropriate behavior in the past. In 2002, he was accused of slapping a woman in the face with his p*nis (I don't want to get flagged, not because I am afraid of the word) because she refused to perform oral on him. At the time, the accusation seemed to disappear into the ether. Still, it is important to revisit that case because it establishes a history of abusive and s*xually assaultive behavior, and it doesn't matter that he was intoxicated. Plenty of people drink and don't assault people, so if his team even goes down that road, I will take that as an admission of guilt. 

Joan Tarshis claims Cosby raped her 50 years ago but had the courage
to still seek justice for herself. 

Again, while I was writing this story, yet another Jane Doe came out of the woodwork to sue Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records and co-founder of Beats with Dr. Dre. So far as of this writing,  the late music mogul Ahmet Ertegun, LA Reid, Steven Tyler, Bill Cosby, Cuba Gooding Jr, Diddy's Former President of Bad Boy Records Harv Piere, and Grammy's CEO Neil Portnow have been sued due to the Survivor's Act. This list only covers the famous names; the office was overwhelmed with claims before the deadline, so it is impossible to know who else has been involved. 

I applaud those women, yet it does leave me with the uneasy feeling that by the time these men felt that they could behave that way and get away with it, they had probably done it dozens of times. How many settled cases, NDAs and frightened victims are out there still suffering? But like everything lately, when it comes to protecting women, we get the extremely short end of a very bad deal.  

Stephanie Seymour today.

* I was told that she knew of people who had been shafted financially by him and how rude he was in public to women. His reputation was garbage well before all of this happened. 

Update: Diddy is being accused of sharing a sex tape of Joi Dickerson-Neal, who was a student at Syracuse at the time, and says he drugged and assaulted her1991. She didn't want to go to dinner with him, but she relented and felt like she couldn't move and lost the ability to walk. Joi says he took her back to the studio, and unable to fight back, he assaulted her. 

(photos: Getty, Shutterstock, Pinterest, WSJ, ABC TV, Alamy)