Garth Brooks sexual assault allegations explained

Photo: SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images

Garth Brooks has been accused of sexual assault and assault by his former hairdresser and makeup artist. The woman, identified as “Jane Roe” in a lawsuit filed Oct. 3, claims that over the course of their working relationship, the country singer forced her to touch his genitals, groped her breasts and once raped her in a hotel room . “This side of Brooks believes he is entitled to sexual satisfaction when he wants it,” the complaint states, “and it is fair game to use an employee to do it.”

Brooks has denied the allegations and said Roe's lawsuit amounts to extortion. “Over the last two months, I have been harassed endlessly with threats, lies and tragic stories about what my future would be if I did not write a multi-million dollar check,” he said in a statement. “It was like a loaded gun was being waved in my face. Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. For me, that means admitting to behavior that I am incapable of – ugly acts that no human being should ever do to another.”

In her complaint, Roe says she began working for Brooks in 2017 after being hired by his wife, singer Trisha Yearwood, nearly a decade earlier. The alleged abuse began in 2019, according to the legal filing. She describes how Brooks once got out of the shower at his home, “grabbed her hands and forced them onto his erect penis.” Brooks then said he “wanted her to perform oral sex on him,” the complaint states, but Roe refused.

On a business trip to Los Angeles in May 2019, Roe says Brooks booked them a one-bedroom suite. “Upon arrival, Brooks suddenly appeared in the bedroom doorway completely naked,” the complaint states. “MS. Roe immediately had a sick feeling in her stomach knowing that she was trapped in the room alone with Brooks, with no one to help her and far from Nashville.” The court filing describes Brooks as almost Weighing 300 pounds, she is further accused of pulling Roe onto a bed and raping her. The alleged attack was so violent that “she felt like he was breaking her in two,” the complaint says was over, Roe said the dynamic was back to “business as usual” and she had to style Brooks for an event.

After the alleged rape, Brooks “expressed his sexual fantasies about her out loud more often and fondled her breasts while she was doing her hair and makeup,” the court filing said. Roe also claims he tried to rape her again in October 2019, but she “managed to escape the situation.”

The lawsuit details how Brooks allegedly sent Roe sexually explicit text messages, regularly spoke to her about his sexual fantasies and repeatedly talked about having a “threesome” with Yearwood. Roe needed the job and tried to get Brooks to keep their relationship professional, the lawsuit says, but she stopped working for the singer in 2021.

Roe's lawsuit alleges that Brooks discovered she had gone public with the allegations and filed a preemptive lawsuit in mid-September denying them and calling her a “lying blackmailer intent on destroying his professional reputation.” . Using the name “John Doe,” Brooks' filing states that Roe is “aware of the significant, irreparable harm that such false allegations would inflict on Plaintiff's well-deserved reputation as a decent and caring human being, along with the inevitable harm to.” his family and the irreparable harm to his career and livelihood that would result if she followed through on her threat to “publicly file” her fabricated lawsuit. It goes on to say that Roe's attorney initially sent Brooks a “confidential” demand letter accusing him of sexual misconduct after he denied her request for “employment and medical benefits.” Brooks said in the statement: “We filed a lawsuit against this individual nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. “In the interest of the families of both sides, we filed the complaint anonymously.”

For their part, Roe's lawyers told CNN that “the effort to silence our client by filing a preemptive lawsuit in Mississippi was nothing more than an act of desperation and an attempt at intimidation.”

So far, the lawsuit doesn't appear to have affected Brooks' career. The same day Roe filed her complaint, the two-time Grammy winner posted on Instagram after performing to a sold-out crowd at his Las Vegas residency. “If there was ever a night I really needed this, it was TONIGHT!” he wrote. “Thank you for my life!!!!! All the best, g.”

However, Roe and her legal team are not backing down. “I cannot engage in settlement discussions, but Brooks' claim that he is unwilling to pay millions is simply not true,” attorney Douglas H. Wigdor said in a statement to the Cut. “It appears Sean Combs and Garth Brooks are using the same PR team by attacking legitimate victims. We are very confident in our case and with time the public will see his true character rather than his high profile personality.”