We both regret abortion, says Steve Tyler’s ex-girlfriend
The married mother of seven is one of a number of people who will speak in Dublin next Saturday at the conference in the RDS.
In 1973, when Holcomb was 16, Tyler reportedly convinced her parents to sign over guardianship to him so he could live with her in Boston. He was aged 27.
She became pregnant in 1975 after Tyler told her he wanted to have children. A few months later she agreed to marry him.
However, the relationship soured when his family expressed concerns about marriage as she was so young.
For fear of a divorce, Tylerâs grandmother refused to give them her wedding ring because it would pass from the family.
However, when Holcomb was five months pregnant and Tyler was away on tour, she was almost killed in a house fire.
While being treated for severe smoke inhalation in hospital, she was persuaded to have an abortion. The couple broke up two years later. She never spoke in public about her abortion until Tyler wrote about it in his autobiography â published three years ago when he was a judge on American Idol.
Tylerâs daughter, actress Liv Tyler, 37, recently announced she was pregnant with her second child, to partner Dave Gardner. The daughter of model Bebe Buell, Liv already had a nine-year-old son from a previous marriage to British musician Royston Langdon.
Tyler, 66, was delighted when told of his daughterâs new baby news. âI am over the moon that we are adding another member to our wolf pack,â he said.
âBeing a father and a grandfather is the greatest gift in life so far,â he said.
Holcomb, meanwhile, who converted to Catholicism, is a member of the Silent No More organisation of women who have regretted their abortion.
Pro Life Campaign deputy chairperson Cora Sherlock said the organisation was delighted Holcomb was coming to Ireland.
âIt is not often that we get to hear this side of the story â abortion regret, something we know affects so many women,â she said.
