Legendary singer and songwriter, Bob Dylan, plied a 12-year-old girl with drugs and alcohol before sexually abusing her at his Chelsea Hotel apartment in 1965, an explosive new lawsuit alleges.
The ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ musician allegedly used his star status to groom, gain the trust of and control the victim “as part of his plan to sexually molest and abuse” her, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court papers, which only identify the plaintiff as “J.C.”
“Bob Dylan, over a six-week period between April and May of 1965 befriended and established an emotional connection with the plaintiff,” say the papers, which were filed late Friday on behalf of J.C., now a 68-year-old woman in Greenwich, Conn.
The suit alleges that Dylan — whose given name is Robert Allen Zimmerman — established the “connection” to “lower [J.C.’s] inhibitions with the object of sexually abusing her, which he did, coupled with the provision of drugs, alcohol and threats of physical violence, leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day.”
The alleged abuse by the now-81-year-old ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ singer and songwriter occurred multiple times, and some of the incidents took place at the famed Chelsea Hotel, the suit claims.
Val Wilmer/Redferns
J.C. says the emotional effects of the alleged abuse have been long-lasting and that she has had to seek medical treatment for them, according to the filing.
The fallout she suffered — including depression, humiliation and anxiety — “are of a permanent and lasting natures and have incapacitated plaintiff from attending her regular activities,” the suit claims.
J.C. brought allegations of assault, battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress against Dylan. She is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.
Dylan’s spokesman told The Post on Monday, “this 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.”
J.C.’s lawyer, Daniel Isaacs, said, “the complaint speaks for itself.”
“She provided a lot of detailed information regarding the time in question that leaves no doubt that she was with him in the apartment during the time in question,” Isaacs said, noting that he was able to verify those details with the “best available research.”
Isaacs said his client has no plans to go public at the moment.
He declined to comment on why his client was mounting the allegations so many years later.
The suit was filed late Friday, on the eve of the closure of the New York Child Victims’ Act look-back window.
The window allowed victims of childhood abuse to file suit against their attackers and the institutions that protected them regardless of how old the claims were and whether they had since passed beyond the statute of limitations.
Dylan recently won an unrelated lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court brought by the wife of his one-time collaborator seeking a cut of the sale of the star’s song collection.
SOURCE: pagesix.com
