Garth Brooks Accused of Sexual Assault By Former Hairstylist

lawsuits

Updated
Oct. 3, 2024

Garth Brooks Accused of Sexual Assault By Former Hairstylist

By
Justin Curto,
who covers music, TV, and celebrity for Vulture

Photo: CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

A former hairstylist and makeup artist is suing Garth Brooks for sexual assault and battery. The anonymous woman, “Jane Roe,” claims the country megastar once raped her on a 2019 trip, among other allegations, in a new lawsuit obtained by CNN. On the evening of October 3, Brooks responded to the allegations through a statement from his lawyer, Nancy Seltzer. He claims that Roe “hassled [him] to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if [he] did not write a check for many millions of dollars” to her. He concludes, “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.”

He had previously tried to block Roe’s claims while attempting to remain anonymous himself. CNN first reported that a celebrity — now confirmed to be Brooks — had anonymously filed a lawsuit against a Jane Roe in September, asking a Mississippi court to stop her from filing her own suit. In his, Brooks claimed Roe was using “untrue, lewd allegations” to make millions off him. “Defendant’s allegations are not true,” he said. In a response to that lawsuit, Roe reportedly said that she was filing hers only after attempting to settle and that she “intended to hold him accountable for his conduct and sexual violence.” Her lawyers told CNN that Brooks’s lawsuit “was nothing other than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation.”

Roe says in the lawsuit that she began working with Brooks’s wife, country star Trisha Yearwood, in 1999. She then started doing Brooks’s hair and makeup in 2017. Roe alleges that Brooks would change in front of her and expose himself to her repeatedly, even once forcing her to touch his genitals after he walked out of the shower naked. She also claims Brooks often spoke about sex around her, sent her explicit texts, and even repeatedly suggested “having a threesome” with Yearwood. Once, Roe said, she traveled to Los Angeles alone with Brooks — which she claimed was unusual — and arrived to find he had not booked her a separate hotel room or bed. There, she claims, Brooks raped her, saying in the lawsuit she felt “trapped in the room alone with Brooks.”

Brooks is one of the most commercially successful musicians in history, with nine Diamond-certified albums and over 150 million albums sold in all. He just announced the final dates for his Las Vegas residency set for next February and March. It’s now unclear if those shows will go ahead as planned. He recently told USA Today he expects to be Yearwood’s “plus one” after ending the residency. “My wife is sweet enough to be there for me every time I need her,” he added. “I need to return that and we need to hear her more than two songs a night. I told her I’d front her. I’ll stay backstage and do whatever she needs.”

Brooks’s full statement in response to the accusations is below:

“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.”

This post has been updated.

Garth Brooks Accused of Sexual Assault By Former Hairstylist