Garth Brooks accused of sexual assault and battery in lawsuit from hair-and-makeup artist who worked for him

CNN

By Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN

(CNN) — Country music star Garth Brooks has been accused of sexual assault and battery in a lawsuit from a “Jane Roe” who says she worked as a hairstylist and makeup artist for the award-winning singer.

The complaint, filed in a state court in California on Thursday and obtained by CNN, states the alleged incidents occurred in 2019.  She claims she was once raped by Brooks during a work trip.

In a statement to CNN later on Thursday, Brooks said, “For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars.”

“Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to another,” he added. “We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.”

Prior to Roe’s filing and as first reported by CNN, an anonymous celebrity plaintiff – now disclosed to be Brooks – had tried to block Roe from publicly repeating her allegations and fiercely denied the claims, according to a previous complaint he had filed as a “John Doe.”

Roe began handling hair and makeup services for Brooks in 2017, according to her suit, which states that she was first hired to do hair and makeup for his wife, Trisha Yearwood, in 1999.

CNN has reached out to representatives for Yearwood for comment.

“I cannot get into settlement discussions, but the suggestion made by Brooks that he was unwilling to pay millions is simply not true,” Douglas H. Wigdor, an attorney representing Roe, said in a statement to CNN Friday. “We are very confident in our case and over time the public will see his true character rather than his highly curated persona.”

In addition to sexual assault and battery, the suit accuses Brooks of repeatedly exposing his genitals and buttocks; talking about sex and sharing sexual fantasies with Roe; regularly changing his clothing in front of Roe; and sending sexually explicit text messages.

In her filing, Roe claims that during one alleged incident in 2019, when she was at Brooks’ home for work, he walked out of the shower naked, “grabbed her hands and forced them” onto his genitals, while speaking to her with sexually explicit and vulgar language.

In another alleged incident in May 2019, the suit alleges that Brooks raped Roe in a hotel room during a work trip to Los Angeles where Brooks was taping a Grammy tribute performance.

According to the suit, Brooks and Roe traveled to Los Angeles on Brooks’ private jet.

“Usually there were others on Brooks’ private jet but this time, Ms. Roe and Brooks were the only two passengers,” the complaint states. “Once in Los Angeles at the hotel, Ms. Roe could not believe that Brooks had booked a hotel suite with one bedroom and she did not have a separate room.”

Once they arrived at the hotel suite, Roe alleges the country singer “appeared in the doorway to the bedroom, completely naked.” Roe’s complaint states she felt “trapped in the room alone with Brooks.”

After the alleged rape, Roe claims that Brooks continued to tell her his sexual fantasies with more frequency and physically groped her. The complaint states Brooks “repeated remarks” about “having a threesome” with his wife.

In his complaint as plaintiff John Doe, Brooks claims defendant Roe’s attorney sent him a “confidential” demand letter alleging sexual misconduct after he declined Roe’s request for “salaried employment and medical benefits.”

“Defendant’s allegations are not true,” Brooks’ previous lawsuit states. “Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”

Roe’s attorneys told CNN that Brooks’ “efforts to silence our client through the filing of a preemptive complaint in Mississippi was nothing other than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation.”

“We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions,” attorneys Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker said in a statement to CNN. “We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks. The complaint filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood and in the rap and rock and roll industries but also in the world of country music.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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