Editorial Staff
According to a $5 million lawsuit filed earlier this month by an unidentified plaintiff, boxing legend Mike Tyson has been accused of raping a woman after the two met at an Albany nightclub in the early 1990s.
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The woman claims Tyson raped her in a limousine, causing her ‘physical, psychological, and emotional injury’ in the years since.
‘I got in Mike Tyson’s limousine to pick up my friend from her house,’ according to the lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com. ‘Tyson immediately began to touch and kiss me. I told him no several times and asked him to stop, but he continued to attack me. He then yanked my pants off and raped me.’
The woman’s filing does not include a specific date for the attack other than the ‘early 1990s’ – around the same time that beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington claimed Mike Tyson raped her in Indianapolis. Tyson was convicted of raping Washington on February 10, 1992, and served three years in prison.
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The lawsuit was filed in New York under the state’s Adult Survivors Act, which gives sexual assault victims a one-year window to file lawsuits for assaults that occurred years or even decades ago.
The woman wishes to remain anonymous because publication of her name ‘would certainly pose a risk to me of further mental harm, harassment, ridicule, or personal embarrassment.’
She also claims that she suffered as a result of the alleged attack.
‘As a result of Tyson’s rape, I suffered and continue to suffer from physical, psychological, and emotional injury,’ the filing stated. ‘I have felt guilt, loss of self-esteem, shame, embarrassment, sadness, anger, depression, anxiety, violent tendencies, drug and alcohol addiction,
and confusion resulting from the brutal rape.
‘As a result of the rape, I have developed lifelong issues, including but not limited to sex and being touched. I’ve struggled to keep and/or develop healthy relationships with men, or with anyone in general. I’ve gone through a lot of emotional turmoil, including nightmares, panic attacks, and flashbacks.’
In a separate filing, the woman’s attorney, Darren Seilback, stated that his office did not simply take the woman’s word for it, but instead investigated her allegations and determined that they are ‘highly credible.
Seilback said he couldn’t comment further on the case on Tuesday.
Tyson’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Tyson, 56, rose to prominence as the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990, but his life outside the ring has been turbulent.
In divorce papers, Tyson’s former wife, actress Robin Givens, stated that their late-1980s marriage was marked by “unprovoked rages of violence and destruction.”
He was also charged with groping his ex-photographer.
Mike Tyson allegedly tried to grab the breast of award-winning photographer Lori Grinker in the early 1980s, but instead of denying the allegation, he told DailyMail.com that the two had a consensual sexual relationship beginning when he was ‘around 17’ and she was in her mid 20s.
Grinker, 65, made her accusation in the preface of her new pictorial book, ‘Mike Tyson,’ a candid collection of photographs dating from Tyson’s adolescence to the early 1990s.
‘Mike Tyson could be very sweet and gentle when he was feeling it, and not so sweet and gentle when he wasn’t,’ she wrote of Tyson, now 56. ‘He once tried to grab my breast, but when I pushed him away, he became enraged and threw my light meter in the snow. He had a spoiled side and had grown accustomed to getting his way as the champ.’
Grinker told DailyMail.com that Tyson never tried anything like that again and that the two kept their professional relationship going. She also emphasized that Tyson was a ‘immature teen’ at the time.
Tyson’s claim, according to Grinker, is inaccurate and a lie.
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