Erin Everly

Erin Everly (born 8 November 1965) is an American former model and ex-wife of Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose. Guns N 'Roses hit Sweet Child o' Mine was written about her and she also appeared in the accompanying video.

Biography

Erin Everly was born Erin Invicta Everly on November 8, 1965, in Los Angeles, California, to Don Everly, of the rock and roll duo The Everly Brothers and British-American actress Venetia Stevenson. 

Erin has an older sister Stacy Everly (born 5 May 1963), a film-production professional, and a younger brother Edan Everly (born 25 August 1968), a musician.

Erin's parents divorced in the 1970s mainly as a result of Don Everly's battle with drug addiction. Pleading poverty, her father did not pay for her child support, resulting in Erin and her two siblings growing up in modest circumstances. Her mother took work as a clothing designer. In 1974, her mother moved the family from an upscale Studio City neighborhood to a more modest rented home in Los Angeles, and the children transferred from the exclusive The Buckley Private school to public schools. A July 1994 write-up by Steve Dougherty of People magazine describes Erin as a slow learner who suffered from dyslexia, and enjoyed being home and playing with her dolls and baby brother and, as she got older, offered emotional support to her mother. "I always felt like I had to look after her,... I'm a caretaker."

When she was 16, Erin relocated to New York City to pursue a modeling career, working with Wilhelmina agency [People Magazine, July 18, 1994]. She met Rose in 1986 at a party in Los Angeles—she was 21 and Rose was 24. The two fell in love and Erin moved back to Los Angeles to continue their relationship. She has said of her romance with Rose, "It was the first relationship I had had—I felt like we were two people who didn't have much but who had found each other... I was looking for someone who wanted to get married, have a bunch of children and a station wagon."

The following year, in 1987, Rose wrote the lyrics for Guns N' Roses hit Sweet Child o' Mine after Erin. The song appeared on the band's debut album Appetite for Destruction. To get the right sound, he borrowed inspiration from Lynyrd Skynyrd, stating, "And yet for Sweet Child... I went out and got some old Skynyrd tapes to make sure that we'd got that heartfelt feeling." The music video for the song also featured Erin, in addition to all of the band members' current girlfriends: Duff McKagan's girlfriend Mandy Brix; Izzy Stradlin's girlfriend Angela Nicoletti; Steven Adler's girlfriend Cheryl Swiderski; and Slash's girlfriend Sally McLaughlin. 

After around four years of dating, Rose and Erin married on April 28, 1990, at Cupid's Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. Allegedly, Rose had threatened Erin that he would kill himself with a gun if she wouldn't marry him. Less than a month later, Rose first filed for divorce. The couple later reconciled, during which time Erin became pregnant. She suffered a miscarriage in October 1990, which deeply affected Rose, who had wanted to start a family. Erin left Rose the following November after an argument and they annulled their marriage just after 9 months, in January 1991. In 1994, Erin filed a suit accusing Rose of physical and emotional abuse throughout their relationship. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

Erin has not appeared in public since. It was rumored that she dated a few well-known celebrities including actor/wrestler David Arquette, rock-star Anthony Kiedis(of Red Hot Chili Peppers), actor Donovan Jerome Leitch (son of the singer-songwriter Donovan), and musician Matthew Nelson.

In 1997, Erin married John Calvin "Jack" Portman III, a prominent Atlanta-based business executive (Vice-Chairman of Portman Holdings). The marriage ended in divorce in 2006 and they had two children together: son Easan (born 1996) and daughter Eres (born 2000).

According to Yahoo! Entertainment, Erin is currently linked with a new man, Atlanta landscape architect Matthew Klyn. Her youngest child (Esper, born 2009) appears to be from that relationship [Yahoo! Entertainment 4 September 2012].