‘I do not fear the truth’

Garth Brooks has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse in a lawsuit filed Oct. 3 by a hairstylist/make-up artist who labored for him.

The nation music star, 62, responded to the allegations filed by plaintiff “Jane Roe” in an announcement to Yahoo Leisure, saying that he’s “not the person they’ve painted me to be.”

In September, Brooks anonymously filed a lawsuit towards the accuser, alleging tried extortion and defamation.

Hours after Roe’s lawsuit was filed on Thursday, Brooks took the stage in Las Vegas and referenced his private troubles in a social media put up.

What simply occurred?

On Oct. 3, the previous worker filed a lawsuit towards him within the California Supreme Courtroom in Los Angeles County. Within the criticism, Roe, who stated she started working with Brooks in 2017, alleged he raped her, groped her, made undesirable sexual remarks, undressed in her presence and despatched her sexually specific textual content messages all through 2019.

Roe — who first labored with Brooks’s spouse, Trisha Yearwood, starting in 1999 — claimed Brooks made repeated remarks about having “threesomes” along with her and Yearwood. She alleged Yearwood overheard the express remark “on at the very least one event.” Roe stated she stopped working for Brooks and moved to Mississippi round Might 2021.

Brooks denied Roe’s allegations in an announcement.

“For the final two months, I’ve been hassled to no finish with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future can be if I didn’t write a verify for a lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars},” Brooks stated. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face. Hush cash, regardless of how a lot or how little, remains 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.”

It continued, “We filed swimsuit towards this individual 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 each side.”

The assertion concluded, “I belief the system, I don’t worry the reality, and I’m not the person they’ve painted me to be.”

A rep for Yearwood has not responded to Yahoo Leisure’s request for remark.

Roe’s allegations towards Brooks

The make-up and hair skilled stated that in 2019, Brooks discovered she was experiencing “monetary difficulties” and employed her extra often, in accordance with her criticism.

That yr, Roe was ready to do his hair and make-up when Brooks got here from the bathe “bare, with an erection” and positioned her arms on his genitals, in accordance with her lawsuit. She stated she refused his request to “carry out oral intercourse on him.”

In Might 2019, Roe traveled with Brooks to Los Angeles for a taping of a Grammys tribute to Sam Moore. She stated she was shocked once they had been the one two passengers on Brooks’s personal aircraft as a result of often extra members of his group had been current. At their resort, she stated Brooks “booked a resort suite with one bed room” and “she didn’t have a separate room.” She claimed that’s the place she was raped, feeling “trapped” and unable to “escape his bodily domination.”

Roe claimed that after the alleged sexual assault, Brooks “elevated the frequency of claiming his sexual fantasies about her aloud” and groped her breasts when she was engaged on his hair and make-up. She stated he additionally despatched her sexually specific texts and later took her telephone and deleted messages he despatched her.

She claimed Brooks tried to rape her in October 2019 however needed to go away for one more engagement.

“We applaud our consumer’s braveness in transferring ahead along with her criticism towards Garth Brooks,” Roe’s attorneys, Douglas Wigdor and Hayley Baker, instructed ABC Information in an announcement. They stated the lawsuit “demonstrates that sexual predators exist not solely in company America, Hollywood and within the rap and rock and roll industries but additionally on the planet of nation music.”

It continued, “We’re assured that Brooks shall be held accountable for his actions and his efforts to silence our consumer by the submitting of a preemptive criticism in Mississippi was nothing apart from an act of desperation and tried intimidation. We encourage others who could have been victimized to contact us as no survivor ought to undergo in silence.”

Brooks sued Roe to dam her lawsuit

In Roe’s lawsuit, it’s famous that Brooks filed a lawsuit — utilizing the pseudonym John Doe — towards her (as Jane Roe) on Sept. 13 within the Southern District of Mississippi Northern Division Courtroom.

Within the criticism, obtained by Yahoo Leisure, Brooks’s authorized group stated the lawsuit was being filed to “get hold of reduction from Defendant’s ongoing tried extortion, defamation, false mild invasion of privateness, and intentional infliction of emotional misery by outrageous conduct together with the publication and threatened wider publication of false allegations of sexual misconduct that might irreparably hurt [Brooks’s] popularity, household, profession and livelihood.”

Brooks, who requested for a jury trial, stated in his lawsuit that Roe’s “allegations will not be true.”

He stated he employed her “out of loyalty, friendship, and a need to enhance” her private state of affairs, however her calls for for “monetary help” solely elevated, in accordance with his criticism. He stated when he denied her a salaried place with medical advantages, “she responded with false and outrageous allegations of sexual misconduct.”

Brooks’s lawsuit states he first heard of Roe’s sexual assault allegations — “none of which has any foundation in truth” — in a July 17 letter her legal professionals despatched threatening a lawsuit. Brooks’s attorneys obtained a follow-up letter on Aug. 23 saying Roe would “chorus from publicly submitting her false and defamatory lawsuit towards” him “in change for a multi-million greenback fee.”

Brooks, who seeks compensatory and punitive damages, says Roe is aware of her “false allegations” will trigger “substantial, irreparable injury” to his “well-earned popularity as an honest and caring individual, together with the unavoidable injury to his household and the irreparable injury to his profession and livelihood.”

Brooks took the stage in Las Vegas hours after lawsuit was filed

Regardless of the lawsuit — and headlines — Brooks took the stage Thursday for his sold-out residency efficiency on the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

After the present, he shared an emotional put up on Instagram, thanking his followers for getting him by the present.

“If there was ever an evening that I actually wanted this, TONIGHT was that evening! Thanks for my life!!!!! love, g,” he wrote.

For those who or somebody you already know has been sexually assaulted, assist is accessible. RAINN’s Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline is right here for survivors 24/7 with free, nameless assist. 800-656-HOPE (4673) and on-line.rainn.org.