GENE SIMMONS Sued By Ex-Girlfriend

Samuel Maull of The Associated Press is reporting that a woman who says she is a former girlfriend of KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons is suing him for slander, saying the bass guitarist made her sound like a "sex-addicted nymphomaniac" during a "rockumentary" on VH1 television.

Georgeann Walsh Ward, 53, of Chester, N.Y., says in court papers that a photo of her appeared 11 times during the report on KISS, shown on the network several times in July and August, while Simmons claimed to have had sexual encounters with 4,600 women.

The documentary, "When KISS Ruled The World", purported to chronicle the band's 30-year career, assess its impact on rock music, and expose the quartet's "wild" antics. The other band members were guitarist/singer Paul Stanley, drummer Peter Criss, and guitarist Ace Frehley.

Simmons says during the show, "There wasn't a girl that was off limits, and I enjoyed every one of them," court papers say.

At another point Simmons says, "I was a 24-hour whore. All I ever thought about was sex." This, court papers say, was shown and followed by a photo of Ward with Simmons.

Ward's papers say that because a photo of her with Simmons was shown during remarks about his sexual adventures, she was in effect portrayed as "wild" and "unchaste."

"The implication was that (Ward) was a prostitute and/or solicited prostitutes, and/or (she was) a sexually loose woman," court papers say.

Ward, married with a 21-year-old son, said she met Simmons at a concert in October 1972 when she was 21. For the next three years through fall of 1975, she says in court papers, they were in what she believed was "an exclusive, monogamous, romantic relationship."

During much of the time they were together, Ward's court papers say, Simmons was a college student and then a sixth-grade teacher "until the success of KISS propelled him out of the classroom and out of plaintiff's life."

Ward's lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, asks for unspecified damages from Simmons and his company, and from Viacom, VH1's parent company, for alleged defamation and invasion of privacy.

Laura Nelson, spokeswoman for Viacom, said she could not comment on pending litigation.

No spokesperson for Simmons could be reached for comment.