Nation famous person Garth Brooks has been accused of rape and sexual assault, in response to a lawsuit obtained by ABC Information.
The plaintiff, referred to all through the court docket paperwork as Jane Roe, filed the lawsuit within the California Supreme Court docket in Los Angeles County on Thursday, Oct. 3.
Jane Roe is recognized within the lawsuit as knowledgeable make-up artist and hairstylist with greater than 30 years within the music business who was first employed to do make-up and hair for Brooks’ spouse, Trisha Yearwood, in 1999.
Garth Brooks performs at Croke Park in Dublin., Sept. 9, 2022.
Brian Lawless/PA Pictures through Getty Pictures
Brooks responded to the allegations in a press release to ABC Information on Thursday night time.
“For the final two months, I’ve been hassled to no finish with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future could be if I didn’t write a examine for a lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face,” his assertion learn. “Hush cash, irrespective of how a lot or how little, continues to be hush cash. In my thoughts, which means I’m admitting to habits I’m incapable of — ugly acts no human ought to ever do to a different.”
The assertion continued, “We filed go well with towards this particular person almost a month in the past to talk out towards extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of households on either side.”
“I need to play music tonight. I need to proceed our good deeds going ahead,” the assertion concluded. “It breaks my coronary heart these great issues are in query now. I belief the system, I don’t worry the reality, and I’m not the person they’ve painted me to be.”
In accordance with the lawsuit, Roe started her working relationship with Brooks, now 62, in 2017.
Roe says within the criticism she was employed by Brooks extra typically starting in 2019 after he discovered she was “experiencing monetary difficulties.”
The plaintiff claims her working relationship with Brooks took a flip in Might 2019 when she claims the Grammy-winning singer raped her on knowledgeable journey to Los Angeles.
In accordance with the lawsuit, Roe alleges that she traveled to Los Angeles with Brooks and so they had been the “solely two passengers” on his non-public jet. As soon as at their resort, Roe says she discovered that Brooks had “booked a resort suite with one bed room, and she or he didn’t have a separate room,” the lawsuit alleges.
Roe claims she felt “trapped” within the resort room, the place Brooks allegedly uncovered himself and raped her.
Garth Brooks performs throughout the Academy of Nation Music Awards in Frisco, Texas, Might 11, 2023.
Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP through Getty Pictures
“Brooks rape of Ms. Roe was painful and traumatic,” the court docket doc reads. “With chilly disregard for Ms. Roe, when Brooks completed, it was enterprise as regular. Ms. Roe labored shortly to model his hair and do his make-up for the occasion so he was on time.”
Roe can be accusing Brooks within the lawsuit of constructing a number of express remarks and advances she mentioned had been unwelcome, sexual assault in further cases and sexual abuse.
“Ultimately Ms. Roe was unable to proceed working for Brooks and she or he sought authorized counsel about what had occurred,” the doc states. “As well as, in or about Might 2021, Ms. Roe moved to Mississippi.”
Within the lawsuit, legal professionals for Roe identified that Brooks filed an nameless lawsuit on Sept. 13, 2024, below the pseudonym John Doe.
In accordance with the lawsuit obtained by ABC Information, Brooks filed it to “acquire reduction from Defendant’s ongoing tried extortion, defamation” and “false allegations of sexual misconduct that might irreparably hurt” his “status, household, profession and livelihood.”
The plaintiff is demanding a trial by jury on all triable points and in search of compensatory and punitive damages, legal professional charges and “additional reduction because the court docket might deem correct.”
In his lawsuit, Brooks can be demanding a trial by jury and compensatory and punitive damages.
“We applaud our consumer’s braveness in shifting ahead along with her criticism towards Garth Brooks,” Roe’s attorneys, Douglas H. Wigdor and Hayley Baker, mentioned in a press release. “The criticism filed at the moment demonstrates that sexual predators exist not solely in company America, Hollywood and within the rap and rock and roll industries but additionally on this planet of nation music.”
“We’re assured that Brooks will likely be held accountable for his actions and his efforts to silence our consumer via the submitting of a preemptive criticism in Mississippi was nothing aside from an act of desperation and tried intimidation,” Wigdor and Baker’s assertion continued. “We encourage others who might have been victimized to contact us as no survivor ought to undergo in silence.”
