Steven Tyler Finally Responds to Sexual Assault Lawsuit

The Aerosmith frontman filed his defense in court last week.

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is finally responding to a lawsuit filed against him late last year in which he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor, as well as sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The 75-year-old musician filed a response last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, according to documents reviewed by People, with a laundry list of defenses against the accusations.

Tyler is requesting the lawsuit be dismissed, claiming that the plaintiff, who was known as Julia Holcomb at the time, consented to the sexual relationship between them. He also believes he has immunity from any wrongdoing since he was the then-16-year-old's legal guardian at the time of the alleged events.

According to the publication, the complete list is 24 points long, and also states that Holcomb, who now goes by the last name Misley, "has not suffered any injury or damage as a result of any action by Defendant," and "if it is determined that Plaintiff has been damaged, then any such damages were not caused by Defendant."

Misley's lawyer, Jeff Anderson, believes that the singer is "gaslighting" her with his defense, according to another statement obtained by People. He says Tyler is using "a sham legal guardianship to avoid prosecution for sex crimes."

"He's heaping more pain on Misley and gaslighting her by falsely claiming that she 'consented' and that the pain he inflicted was 'justified and in good faith,'" the attorney said. "Never have we encountered a legal defense as obnoxious and potentially dangerous as the one that Tyler and his lawyers launched this week: Their claim that legal guardianship is consent and permission for sexual abuse."

The suit was originally filed just before New Year's. It didn't name Tyler directly, but the allegations lined up with his own commentary from his 2011 memoir Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? and she later named him in a press statement.

In the original complaint, Misley "directly quotes" the memoir, stating that Tyler somehow convinced her mom to grant him guardianship of the teen, opening the door for a sexual relationship. According to the publication, she said she was "powerless to resist" him, and that he had "power, fame and substantial financial ability."

Meanwhile, Tyler described the situation from his point of view in the memoir, writing about how he "almost took a teen bride" after "her parents fell in love with [him], signed a paper over for [him] to have custody, so [he] wouldn't get arrested if [he] took her out of state. [He] took her on tour..."

After she became pregnant, Misley said Tyler convinced her to abort the pregnancy using the excuse that smoke from a recent apartment fire would have harmed the fetus. Following the abortion, she left Tyler and returned home.