Note: This article contains descriptions of alleged sexual battery and gender violence.
Alexa Nikolas is suing her ex-husband, Michael Milosh of Rhye, for sexual battery, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and a violation of California’s Tom Bane Civil Rights Act. She is suing for unspecified damages, as also reported by TMZ and The A.V. Club.
Nikolas is suing Milosh for sexual battery because, she and her lawyers allege, “Milosh intentionally, recklessly, and wantonly made sexual advances, solicitations, requests, and demands for sexual compliance of a hostile nature based on [Nikolas’] gender that were unwelcome, pervasive, and severe.”
Nikolas also claims that, while she was a minor, Milosh made “sexually inappropriate comments to [her],” requested her “to expose herself to [him],” requested her “to send explicit photos of herself,” solicited “to meet with [her] to satisfy his sexual desires,” and shared “nude photographs of other women to [her].”
Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Michael Milosh.
In her lawsuit, obtained by Pitchfork, Alexa Nikolas alleges that Michael Milosh “preyed on the innocence of a minor fan to manipulate and coerce her into succumbing to his repeated sexual assaults of her.” She and her lawyers also write: “Milosh utilized his power of authority and seniority over [Nikolas], as well as years of sexual grooming of [Nikolas] as a minor child, to manipulate her into trusting him. Upon gaining her trust, Defendant Milosh terrorized, sodomized, and abused [Nikolas] as a part of his continuous conduct aimed at satisfying his prurient and economic desires.”
The allegations in the lawsuit largely align with allegations that Nikolas made in an open letter called “Groomed by the Groom.” In the letter, Nikolas claimed she began talking to Milosh when she was 16 and he was 33—an assertion she previously made in a 2018 interview with Verse.
The lawsuit reiterates the allegation that Nikolas and Milosh first made contact when she was 16 years old and he was 33. At that age, in 2008, Nikolas allegedly “reached out to Milosh via his Myspace page, complimenting his music, and commenting that she would like to see him perform the next time he was in Los Angeles.” Milosh responded and the two ended up speaking on the phone for more than an hour, according to the lawsuit.
“For almost two years, Nikolas and Milosh conversed via phone, text message, and Skype video chat,” the lawsuit states. During that time, while Nikolas was a minor, Milosh “repeatedly [asked] to see [Nikolas] in person, take photographs of her, and [requested] she send explicit photographs of herself to him,” according to the lawsuit. “Nikolas acquiesced,” the lawsuit says, “undressing herself and revealing her naked body to him numerous times.”
According to the lawsuit, Nikolas and Milosh first met in person when Nikolas was 18 and after “Milosh groomed and coerced Nikolas to believe she was in love, that he loved her, and that they had a genuine connection and consensual relationship.” She claims that, at their first meeting, “Milosh began pressuring [her] to take off her clothes,” and also “supplied [her] with excessive alcohol to easily manipulate her and continued to encourage [her] to undress.”
The lawsuit also describes an incident of alleged sexual abuse: