Julia Holcomb

I recently got a few biographies/autobiographies from the library to read when I have time. One of them is Steven Tyler's. I figured it'd be as sensationalized as it is, but it's pretty amazing how early he really achieved fame in NYC at a young age, and how he pretty much got to meet/see all the artists he idolized all the time. Reading his own account of his stardom and talent makes me see, that in order to be really successful as a celebrity, you really have to be full of yourself from the get-go. I haven't gotten too far into his "big break" in the book, but I had heard a little about one of his girlfriends in the early 70's named Julia Holcomb. I looked up some articles on her and was really saddened by her story, but it's a story that needs to be heard because she ultimately found happiness, forgiveness and purpose....those things are hard to find for a lot of women these days.

   If you'd like to read the whole article she wrote it is here. She wrote it in response to an earlier article written about her and Steven Tyler which is here.

  Julia Holcomb was a young girl, whose dad abandoned her mother and her siblings, she lost her 10yr old brother in a bad car accident in which she was also injured. Her older sister ran off at age 16, and Julia felt in the way of her mom's relationship with a new husband. She became friends with an older girl who was able to get her backstage at Aerosmith concerts in the 70's when she was 14. She caught Steven Tyler's eye and they continued to see each other. Steven even convinced Julia's mom and step-dad to sign over legal guardianship of Julia to him, so that she could live with him in Boston. (Sounds like Elvis & Priscilla's beginning)



   Although they were both doing drugs, they had a good relationship and Tyler decided he wanted to have a family with Julia. He threw out her birth control pills and she became pregnant in 1973. They were both initially happy to be pregnant. Steven brought her home to his family, and told them that he intended to marry her, asking for his grandmother's ring. The family expressed concern of him marrying such a young girl (16 yrs) and his grandmother had reservations about giving away her ring for fear it could leave the family forever.  Julia says after that disappointing visit, things changed between them.

   She was often alone, without money, without a car, pregnant and sometimes doing coke. All this while Steven still had legal guardianship of her. She doesn't remember how it started, but while alone in his apartment one day, she awoke to smoke and fire and accounts how she remembered the Bill Cosby commercials on "Learn not to Burn". The only safe place she could find was inside the fireplace where she passed out and was eventually rescued by firemen.

   While in the hospital, the doctors didn't think she would survive due to the inevitable smoke inhalation to her and her baby. She was now 5 months pregnant. She actually sustained very little damage to her lungs from the smoke, and the baby was also fine. During this traumatic event, Steven (who apparently was convinced by friends, family and managers) persuaded Julia that having an abortion was the only safe thing for all of them to do, and that it would restore their troubled relationship. Julia resisted a few times, but eventually gave into his pressuring her, and underwent the traumatic procedure right then and there.

    She tells of how Steven snorted coke to numb himself to what he was witnessing...and that he later told her (since she wasn't permitted to see..) that their 5 month old baby boy had been born alive and left to die. This still happens today. Now, at 5 months a baby born prematurely can survive with medical assistance. Anyway, Julia and Steven's relationship quickly dissipated and Steven became involved with a Playmate Bebe Buell who says Julia called threatening suicide many times. (interesting sidenote--he also impregnated Bebe, who decided to have the baby, but gave her to Todd Rundgren to act as the father...that little girl is Liv Tyler) Steven's drug use inevitably increased to the point of drug seizures. In 1977, Julia returned home to her mom and stepdad, and after a few phone calls from Steven, they never spoke again.

Steven & Bebe

   Steven's longtime friend Ray Tabano said,

"So they had the abortion and it really messed Steven up because it was a boy...He saw the whole thing and it f*cked him up big time."

   Steven also said of his own experience:

  “It was a big crisis. It’s a major thing when you’re growing something with a woman, but they convinced us that it would never work out and would ruin our lives. ... You go to the doctor and they put the needle in her belly and they squeeze the stuff in and you watch. And it comes out dead. I was pretty devastated. In my mind, I’m going, Jesus, what have I done?”

This is what Julia herself has to say today,

  “Someone may say that my abortion was justified because of my age, the drugs, and the fire. I do not believe anything can justify taking my baby’s life. The action is wrong. I pray that our nation will change its laws so that the lives of innocent unborn babies are protected. ”


She is now married with 6 children, and they also are legal guardians of a little girl whose young mother chose life and gave her baby to them out of love. Such a great ending. I feel so happy for Julia to have made it through such a dark time, especially at a young age, with a celebrity mind you, her idol.

   I am so irritated when I read the articles and commentary on the feminazi sites demeaning Julia's feelings and her story, for fear it might sway people from loyally supporting the abortion industry.
They write:

  "Anti-choicers are practically drooling over the testimony of Julia Holcomb..."

  "...heralding the importance of each person’s story should never replace or overwhelm the importance of recognizing a diversity of reproductive needs and experiences..."

   One popular feminazi site said,
  
  "Earlier this month, the National Review ran a story on the "trauma" of abortion with an unlikely star at its center.."

   Was it really necessary to put quotes around the word "trauma?" You think your readers have any doubt about where you stand on the issue? Why did you need to belittle someone's pain? An experience that was accounted as traumatic by those involved? And can even people who are pro-choice actually believe there is no trauma in the act of abortion, for the woman, for the doctor and witnessing staff, for the man who might have fathered the baby, and certainly for the baby?

These feminazi are not interested in helping women who have had abortions, when they discount and deny the grief women bear. I know women and men who've taken part in abortions and regardless of where they are in the grief process, THERE IS a heavy grief. A toll that is felt in all subsequent friendships and relationships and pregnancies. I wish more women would come out and tell their stories even if it is nothing but therapeutic. You are victims. If a wild and crazy drugged up rocker, who has undoubtedly seen (and heard...read his studio experience with Jimi Hendrix' mic...) it all, is still burdened with the morbid images he saw, don't you wonder how a "doctor" (yes, I am belittling the doctors that kill for money) can do that day in and day out with his own hands?

   What I don't understand about the feminazi's reactions to these stories, is what evil motive are they assigning to me, as a pro-lifer? In other words, what do I have to gain personally, by sharing these stories and for post-abortion trauma survivors who devote themselves freely to helping other women, or pro-lifers who adopt or take guardianship of babies who would've been aborted? It's obvious why feminazi are vehemently loyal to their pro-choice causes, because they think they "benefit" and "liberate" themselves with casual sex and abortion. But what do we pro-lifers gain by trying to defend a vulnerable and defenseless life? What is my incentive in your eyes?






   Julia was not campaigning for herself or anyone else, she wasn't selling anything, and yet she was still criticized and belittled as trying to attain fame during Steven Tyler's memoir release. I guess her honest story was threat enough to the abortion industry.