A hair and make-up artist has accused country singer Garth Brooks of sexual assault and battery, which Garth Brooks vehemently denies, in a civil lawsuit filed in Los Angeles.
The anonymous accuser, referred to in the complaint as “Jane Roe,” alleges that Brooks raped her during a work trip to Los Angeles in 2019 and repeatedly groped her while she was getting her hair and makeup done. He claims he made sexually explicit comments. 2019.
In a statement, Brooks called the allegations “lies” and said he was “incompetent” for the acts he allegedly committed.
“I trust the system, I’m not afraid of the truth, and I’m not who they portray me to be,” he said.
Roe, the accuser in the case, is represented by #MeToo, who has previously represented women who have accused Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly and Joe Biden of sexual misconduct. Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer known as the leading lawyer in the world, is representing him in this lawsuit.
Wigdor and other Plantiff attorneys said Brooks took advantage of makeup artists when they were facing financial hardship, first offering them more frequent paid work and then sexually harassing and assaulting them. claims. Graphic details.
“The complaint filed today shows that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, in Hollywood, in the rap and rock and roll industries, but also in the world of country music.” said the person’s attorneys, Gene Christensen and Haley Baker. said in a statement to the Guardian.
Brooks said in a statement Thursday and in a separate lawsuit he filed in Mississippi in September that the sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations were false and intended to extort money.
“For the past two months, I have been bombarded with endless threats, lies, and tragic stories about what my future will be if I don’t write a check for millions of dollars.” It was like being dumped,” Brooks said in a statement.
“Hush money is still hush money, more or less. In my mind, it means admitting something you can’t do, something ugly that a human being should never do to another person.” I will.”
According to the California complaint, the woman who accused Brooks of sexual assault is a stylist who has worked in the music industry for more than 30 years and has also done the hair and makeup for celebrities who have appeared in Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines. There is. She was first hired in 1999 to do hair and makeup for Trisha Yearwood, another country music star and Brooks’ wife, and began doing the same for Brooks in 2017.
In the suit, the woman alleges that Brooks forcibly raped her in a Los Angeles hotel room in May 2019 when he accompanied her from Nashville to California for a memorial performance honoring R&B legend Sam Moore. It is claimed that She then put on makeup so he could arrive at the event on time, the complaint alleges.
After the assault, she had to see a gynecologist for her injuries, but the assault also left her with severe back and neck pain and emotional trauma, according to the complaint.
The woman alleges that over the next few months, Brooks continued to sexually harass and assault her, including making sexually explicit comments and repeatedly touching her breasts, including while styling herself in public.
Ms. Brooks did this so often that she “avoided seeing or hearing the unwanted behavior of other Brooks store employees touching their breasts while getting their hair done or applying makeup.” ” the lawsuit alleges.
During a styling session in 2020, Brooks “secretly took her cell phone and deleted most of the sexually explicit text messages he had sent her,” according to the complaint.
Lawyers for Jane Roe say Brooks filed a federal lawsuit in Mississippi last month to prevent her from making the accusations against her public.
CNN previously reported on a “highly unusual legal battle” in Mississippi. In the lawsuit, anonymous celebrity plaintiffs asked a federal judge to “declare the sexual assault accuser’s allegations to be false and to cease further publicizing them.” The plaintiff in the case alleged that the accuser “attempted to blackmail and defame him with ‘false allegations’ that caused ‘irreparable damage’ to his reputation and career,” CNN reported.
In a September complaint to the state of Mississippi shared by Brooks’ representatives, Brooks said “Jane Roe” had worked with him professionally for “approximately 15 years” as an independent contractor. Ta.
The complaint alleges that when she moved to Mississippi in early 2020, she faced financial hardship and sought help from the defendant, who “complied out of loyalty, friendship, and a desire to improve the defendant’s condition.” claims.
Brooks’ complaint states that over time, her “requests for financial assistance have only increased,” and that “defendants ultimately sought salaried employment and medical benefits from plaintiff.” When Mr. Brooks refused these offers, the woman “responded with false and outrageous allegations of sexual misconduct.”
Brooks claimed in his September complaint that he first learned of “Jane Roe’s” sexual assault and misconduct allegations in a July 17 letter from her, and that none of the allegations actually amount to anything. He said there was no basis for this.
His complaint alleges that her July letter was accompanied by a “draft civil complaint,” and that Mr. Low will not file the complaint unless he “agrees to pay millions of dollars not to file a lawsuit.” The lawsuit alleges that he “threatened” her to “publicly submit” the documents.
Her accusations in the July 17 letter initially included “the belief that Plaintiff planned to hire someone to kill her,” according to the complaint.
“I want to play music tonight. I want to continue doing good deeds. It breaks my heart that these great things are now being questioned,” Brooks said after the allegations were made public. said in a statement Thursday.
The woman’s attorney said in the complaint that Brooks’ Mississippi anonymous lawsuit was an attempt to bully her accuser into filing a lawsuit in California simply because Brooks refused to give her a raise and health insurance premiums. He claims that he threatened her. ”.
