A NEW YORK Times report says seven women have claimed singer-songwriter Ryan Adams offered to help them with their music careers but then turned things sexual, and he sometimes became emotional and verbally abusive.
In the story published last night, a 20-year-old female musician said Adams, 44, had inappropriate conversations with her while she was 15 and 16. Identified by her middle name Ava, she said that Adams exposed himself during a video call.
Adams’ ex-wife, actress and singer Mandy Moore, said Adams was psychologically abusive toward her throughout their marriage. Their divorce was official in 2016.
The Times said the accounts have been corroborated by family members or friends who were present at the time. Adams’ lawyer denied the claims to the Times.
After the article was published, Adams sent a number of tweets.
“I am not a perfect man and I have made many mistakes. To anyone I have ever hurt, however unintentionally, I apologise deeply and unreservedly,” he wrote.
But the picture that this article paints is upsettingly inaccurate. Some of its details are misrepresented; some are exaggerated; some are outright false. I would never have inappropriate interactions with someone I thought was underage. Period.
Ava said Adams constantly questioned her about her age throughout the nine months they exchanged text messages. The report said she never showed him any identification, and he had pet names for her body parts.
“If people knew they would say I was like R Kelley lol,” he wrote to her via text in November 2014, when he was 40 and she was 16.
R. Kelly has been accused of sexual misconduct with women and girls but has denied the allegations.
“Mr. Adams unequivocally denies that he ever engaged in inappropriate online sexual communications with someone he knew was underage,” Andrew B. Brettler, Adam’s layer, told the New York Times.
The singers Phoebe Bridgers and Courtney Jaye said Adams behaved inappropriately during their relationships.
The article claims that Adams’ promised to help Bridgers career but “turned obsessive” when they started a relationship.
“He began barraging her with texts, insisting that she prove her whereabouts, or leave social situations to have phone sex, and threatening suicide if she didn’t reply immediately,” The New York Times reports.
After their relationship ended, Bridgers said Adams “became evasive about releasing the music they had recorded together and rescinded the offer to open his upcoming concerts”.
Moore burst on the scene as a teen singer and had musical success in the late ’90s and early 2000s. She claimed Adams stalled her music career and told her, “‘You’re not a real musician, because you don’t play an instrument.’”
“His controlling behaviour essentially did block my ability to make new connections in the industry during a very pivotal and potentially lucrative time — my entire mid-to-late 20s,” 34-year-old Moore said to the Times.
Adams released his debut album in 2000 and has earned seven Grammy nominations. He famously covered Taylor Swift’s Grammy-winning 1989 album in 2015, a year after its release. He has also worked as a producer behind the scenes for acts like Willie Nelson and Jenny Lewis.
Adams is due to play two sold out concerts in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on 30 and 31 March.
- With reporting by Rónán Duffy
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