COUNTRY music star Garth Brooks has hit back at allegations he sexually assaulted an employee, insisting threats to make the claims public have been like a “loaded gun” in his face.
The singer, 62, is accused of raping his hair-and-makeup stylist in a hotel while the pair traveled together in 2019.
The allegations were filed by his accuser, referred to only as Jane Doe, in a lawsuit via Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday.
The woman says that she started working for Brooks in 2017, having worked for Brooks’ wife, country singer Trisha Yearwood, since 1999.
She alleges in the lawsuit that the assault took place when she and Brooks traveled from Nashville to Los Angeles together, while he performed with soul singer Sam Moore at a Grammy Awards tribute in October 2019.
Addressing the allegations last night, Brooks insisted he is “not the man they have painted me to be.”
“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 wrote in an Instagram post.
“It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.”
The singer went on to say that “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.
He went on to say that he “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.
“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.”
Brooks normally traveled with an entourage, but the two were alone on his private jet, and he booked just one hotel suite for both of them, the lawsuit says.
The woman alleges that in the suite, he appeared naked in the doorway to the bedroom and raped her.
It goes on to claim he then proceeded as though nothing had happened and expected the employee to do his hair and makeup as normal.
The lawsuit also alleges that earlier in 2019, when Doe was at Brooks’ home, he had appeared naked in front of her and put her hands on his genitals.
Brooks filed a preemptive lawsuit in federal court in Mississippi last month, in which both him and the woman are anonymous.
In that case, the plaintiff, going by John Doe, says the allegations are “wholly untrue.”
He says he first learned of them in July when his accuser threatened to go public with the claims and sue him unless he gave her millions of dollars.
He asked a judge to stop the woman from “intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and false light invasion of privacy.”
“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,” Brooks’ statement said. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.”
The U.S. Sun has reached out to representatives for Brooks for comment.
“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. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
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