Garth Brooks has denied the rape accusations against him, calling it a ‘hush money’ shakedown.
The country star, 62, was accused of sexual assault and battery in a complaint filed in a state court in California on Thursday by a makeup artist who worked for his wife Trisha Yearwood, 60.
Hours later Brooks responded to the accusations. ‘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 CNN.
‘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.’
Garth Brooks, 62, has denied the rape accusations against him, calling it a ‘hush money’ shakedown; seen in 2023
He was accused of sexual assault and battery in a complaint filed on Thursday by a makeup artist who worked for his wife Trisha Yearwood, 60; seen with Trisha in March
Brooks said the situation ‘has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face,’ in another statement to Deadline.
He added, ‘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.’
Meanwhile, the plaintiff’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 Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker said.
‘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.’
The plaintiff, who filed anonymously as ‘Jane Roe,’ alleges the country icon brought her with him to Los Angeles for a Grammy event honoring the R&B singer Sam Moore in May 2019.
In the suit, the plaintiff claims the Friends in Low Places singer booked only one hotel suite there for both of them, and when she asked for a separate accommodation, he would not provide one.
She accuses him of then accosting her in the doorway nude, hauling her into another room, dangling her upside down by the ankles and raping her, in court documents obtained by Dailymail.com.
Before the makeup artist filed her lawsuit, Brooks was aware of her allegations and anonymously filed to fight back, using the name ‘John Doe,’ as reported by CNN.
‘Jane Roe’ was originally hired to do hair and makeup for Yearwood in 1999, and Brooks eventually enlisted her to do so for him in 2017, she claims.
‘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 CNN; Garth pictured in 2023
‘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; seen October 3
‘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,’ Garth stated; pictured with Trisha in 2023
In her new lawsuit, the makeup artist alleges that Brooks would send her sexually explicit text messages, tell her about his sexual fantasies and discuss sex with her.
She also accuses him of exposing his buttocks and genitals to her on more than one occasion and repeatedly changing clothes in front of her.
According to the makeup artist’s suit, Brooks allegedly made advances to her at his home in 2019, before the Los Angeles trip when she says the rape occurred.
She claims she was at Brooks’ house, waiting for him to meet her so that she could apply his makeup, when he emerged naked and erect from the shower.
She alleges that he then ‘grabbed her hands and forced them’ onto his erection, telling her he harbored fantasies that she would perform fellatio on him while wearing her glasses until he would eventually climax onto her face.
The makeup artist accuses Brooks of raping her later that year when they traveled to Los Angeles for his appearance at the Sam Moore tribute.
In her lawsuit, ‘Jane Roe’ claims that she and Brooks did not typically travel alone together, but the Los Angeles trip was an exception.
‘Usually there were others on Brooks’ private jet but this time, Ms. Roe and Brooks were the only two passengers,’ the suit reads. ‘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.’
She allegedly raised her objections to the arrangement and asked for a room of her own, but she claims Brooks would not budge on the matter.
At the hotel, she alleges, he ‘appeared in the doorway to the bedroom, completely naked,’ and she felt ‘trapped in the room alone with Brooks.’
Brooks said the situation ‘has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face,’ in another statement to Deadline; pictured March 2024
‘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,’ he added; pictured 2019
The plaintiff, who is said to be about five feet tall, claims he grabbed her by her ankles and held her upside down while he vaginally raped her.
The makeup artist accuses Brooks of thrusting himself into her so violently that she ‘felt as if she were breaking in two,’ according to legal docs.
She continued working on his hair and makeup throughout the trip because she needed the job as a result of her financial difficulties, she says, adding that Brooks allegedly exploited her circumstances to his advantage.
She accuses Brooks of fondling her breasts while she applied makeup to him – despite her telling him not to – as well as of masturbating once she was finished.
In her lawsuit, the makeup artist claims that after the alleged rape, Brooks continued groping her and related his sexual fantasies to her more often than he did previously.
Brooks is claimed to have made ‘repeated remarks’ about ‘having a threesome’ with Yearwood and the makeup artist, according to the plaintiff.
The plaintiff claimed in court docs that she clashed with the Tulsa, Oklahoma native over a May 2020 incident in which he spoke to her, Yearwood and his manager about inventing a shampoo bottle that would function as a sex toy.
Brooks was visibly furious when she would not comment on the sexually-charged discussion, the plaintiff said.
She said she sent him notices via text and email that she could not ‘work in an environment where explicitly sexual comments are made about shampoo bottles doubling as dildos.’
Brooks told her in response that she was ‘over-thinking’ the issue and that Yearwood wasn’t ‘uncomfortable’ with that tenor of discussion, the plaintiff said in court docs.
The plaintiff was originally hired to do hair and makeup for Yearwood, and Brooks eventually enlisted her to do so for him, she claims; Brooks and Yearwood pictured last month
She accuses him of then accosting her in the doorway nude, hauling her into another room, dangling her upside down by the ankles and raping her, in court documents obtained by Dailymail.com
The plaintiff claimed in court docs that in another 2020 incident, Brooks ‘took her phone and deleted most of the text messages that he had sent to her’ while she was working with him at a studio.
In mid-September, before she filed suit against him, Brooks anonymously submitted a federal court filing in Mississippi to try to suppress her accusations, CNN reported.
Describing himself as ‘a celebrity and public figure who resides in Tennessee,’ he maintained that the makeup artist was leveling ‘false allegations’ against him.
He claimed that she previously asked him for ‘salaried employment and medical benefits,’ and after he refused, her attorney sent him a ‘confidential’ demand letter containing accusations of sexual misconduct.
In his filing, Brooks asked the court to officially declare that the makeup artist’s allegations were false, and to bar her from publicizing them any further.
‘Defendant’s allegations are not true,’ he insisted. ‘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.’
The makeup artist’s attorney submitted a response brief to Brooks’ filing this week, asserting that as a ‘alleged sexual assault predator’ he was not entitled to anonymity.
Brooks and Trisha have been married since 2005; seen in 2019
‘Mr. Doe believes that he is entitled to the same protection victims receive – not to prevent unnecessary re-traumatization, but rather, to maintain his celebrity “reputation,”‘ read the brief. ‘Our civil court system is designed to resolve disputes and provide injured parties a means of redress.’
The brief continued: ‘It is supposed to be a level playing field. The system is not in place to allow wealthy wrongdoers the ability to run work-arounds on sexual assault victims who attempt to hold perpetrators accountable. This is precisely what Mr. Doe is asking the court to help him do.’
The makeup artist’s legal team has now issued a statement saying 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.’
They continued: ‘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.’
