Garth Brooks Speaks Out on Rape Allegation From His and Trisha Yearwood's Makeup Artist
Content warning: This story discusses graphic violence and sexual abuse.
Garth Brooks is breaking his silence.
After his former makeup artist and hairstylist accused him of sexual assault and battery in a new lawsuit, the "Friends in Low Places" singer shared a message denying the allegations and accusing the woman of extortion.
"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," he said in a statement to E! News Oct. 3. "It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face."
He continued, "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."
"I want to play music tonight. I want to continue our good deeds going forward," he added. "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 the lawsuit, obtained by E! News Oct. 3, Brooks' former employee—referred to as "Jane Roe" in the complaint—alleged that the country singer—who has been married to wife Trisha Yearwood since 2005—hired her knowing she was going through financial hardships and subsequently took advantage of her needing her job by sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions in 2019.
On one occasion, Roe said Brooks invited her on a work trip to Los Angeles, where he was set to perform a Grammys tribute, and allegedly raped her in a hotel room that he booked for the two of them to share without her consent.
"Ms. Roe immediately had a sick feeling in her stomach," the filing read, "knowing she was trapped in the room alone with Brooks, with no one to help and far away from Nashville."
In addition to accusing Brooks—who shares daughters Taylor, 32, August, 30, and Allie, 28, with ex Sandra Mahl—of sexual assault, Roe alleged that the Grammy winner exposed his genitals to her repeatedly, shared his sexual fantasies with her, such as his desire to have a threesome with her and his wife, and sent her sexually explicit text messages.
And while Brooks' message marks the first time he publicly addressed the claims, it wasn’t his only response to Roe's lawsuit. In a follow-up complaint, the "The Dance" singer denied all her allegations and filed a motion to move forward with the legal case under his anonymous plaintiff name "John Doe" to protect his reputation.
“We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character," Brooks said in the statement to E! News. "We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides."
According to documents obtained by CNN, the filing stated that Jane Roe "is well aware 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.”
In response, Roe's attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker insisted that their client would continue to seek justice.
“We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks," the lawyers said in a statement to NBC News. "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.”
(E! News and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
For free, confidential help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or visit rainn.org.