Garth Brooks denies lawsuit’s allegations of rape and battery

Garth Brooks attends the 17th Academy Of Country Music Honors in Nashville. Photo / Getty Images

A former makeup artist and hairstylist for Garth Brooks accused the country music superstar of raping her in a Los Angeles hotel room in May 2019, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday (local time). The woman, who filed the complaint under the name Jane Roe, said that after the alleged assault, Brooks sexually harassed her and repeatedly made explicit comments until she stopped working for him around two years later.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Brooks vehemently denied the accusations and said the woman, who lives in Mississippi, told him she would go public with her allegations unless he paid her millions. Last month, Brooks filed a lawsuit against the woman (keeping their identities anonymous) in the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi for extortion and defamation.

“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. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face,” Brooks said in a statement via his publicist. “Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behaviour I am incapable of - ugly acts no human should ever do to another.

“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,” Brooks continued, and referenced his scheduled concert at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Thursday. “I want to play music tonight. I want to continue our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart these wonderful things are in question now. I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”

In response, Douglas H Wigdor, one of Jane Roe’s lawyers, accused Brooks on Friday of “attacking legitimate victims”.

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

Brooks, 62, certified as the top-selling solo artist in history, is revered in the country music community and is credited as a key figure in turning the genre into a global phenomenon in the 1990s. The lawsuit filed by Jane Roe detailed Brooks’ success and long history of charity work and alleged Brooks is “desperate to prevent his millions of fans from learning about the horrific things he has said and done to a junior female employee who did nothing to deserve such treatment”.

In the lawsuit, Roe said she started working as a makeup artist and hairstylist for Brooks’s wife, country star Trisha Yearwood, in 1999, in addition to other celebrities. (Brooks and Yearwood have been married since 2005.) Roe said she worked with Brooks as well starting in 2017, and when Brooks found out in 2019 that she was having financial issues, he hired her to work more often; she said she was grateful for the extra income.

Not long after that, Roe alleged, she arrived at Brooks’s house to style his hair and do his makeup. She said the singer walked out of the shower naked, placed Roe’s hands on his genitals, and said he fantasised about her performing oral sex on him. The lawsuit alleges that Roe was “shocked and confused” but needed the work so did not leave, and that Brooks continued to “take advantage of her financial hardship”.

The complaint said that in May 2019, Roe accompanied Brooks alone on a private jet to a Grammys tribute event in Los Angeles; when they arrived, she said, she realised Brooks booked them into one hotel suite. Roe said that Brooks appeared naked in the doorway to the bedroom, and in the lawsuit, alleges that he pulled her on to the bed and raped her. Afterward, the complaint said, Roe was traumatised and sought medical treatment from her OB/GYN, as well as for neck and lower back pain, and contemplated suicide.

Roe said she needed the money to support her family, so she didn’t say anything to Brooks or people who worked with him, the lawsuit said, and continued to work for him until about May 2021, when she moved to Mississippi. During that time, Roe alleged, Brooks took off his clothes in front of her and groped her breasts; she said he made repeated sexual comments even when she said it made her uncomfortable, and alleged he once made comments in front of his manager and Yearwood. The lawsuit said Brooks sent her sexually explicit text messages, and alleged that Brooks later took Roe’s phone and deleted most of them.

The complaint “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”, a statement from Roe’s lawyers said. “We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions and his 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.”

In Brooks’s lawsuit against Roe, he alleged that Roe worked with him as an independent contractor for 15 years until May 2020, when she moved from Tennessee to Mississippi, where she asked for Brooks’s help when she ran into financial difficulties. Brooks said he complied out of “loyalty, friendship, and a desire to improve [Roe’s] condition” but that she demanded more, including a salaried position and medical benefits.

The country star said he did not agree to those terms, and Roe responded with “false and outrageous” allegations of sexual misconduct from years ago, the lawsuit said. This past July, the complaint said, Roe sent him a letter alleging actions including sexual assault, misconduct, grooming and creation of a sexually hostile work environment, and said she believed Brooks “planned to hire someone to murder her”.

Brooks’ lawsuit said that Roe’s attorney followed up in August and offered to not file a lawsuit against him if he gave her a multimillion-dollar payment. The complaint said Roe’s allegations are “not true”, but Roe was aware of the damage they would do to Brooks’ “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”.

Brooks is now suing her for extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Both Brooks and Roe are asking for a trial by jury.

Samantha Chery contributed to this report.