Country music icon Garth Brooks has been sued by a makeup artist and hairstylist, who accuses him of raping her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2019.
The “Jane Roe,” in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, advances allegations of sexual assault, battery and violations of California laws providing protections from intimidation and coercion. In addition to rape, she alleges he repeatedly groped and subjected her to sexually explicit comments.
Prior to the filing of the complaint, Brooks — while in settlement negotiations with the unnamed plaintiff — preemptively filed a lawsuit in federal court in Mississippi to block the accuser from suing, the lawsuit says. In that lawsuit, Brooks, who filed as a “John Doe” and described himself as a “celebrity and public figure who resides in Tennessee,” claimed that he’s being extorted over his refusal to give the accuser a raise and pay for health insurance.
“Brooks is desperate to prevent his millions of fans from learning about the horrific things he has said and done to a junior female employee who did nothing to deserve such treatment,” the complaint states.
Thursday’s lawsuit details Brooks violently raping the accuser when she traveled with him to a Los Angeles show in May 2019. When they arrived at the hotel, the singer restrained and pulled her onto the bed, the lawsuit alleges. Roe claims he then “held her small body upside down by her feet and penetrated her.”
The lawsuit claims the assault was premeditated since Brooks only booked a single suite without separate rooms and insisted that no other employees join him on the trip.
After the alleged rape, Roe says that the country music star groped “her breasts any time he could” and forced her to expose her breasts to him. He repeatedly threatened to “mess around” with her before becoming visibly angry when she refused, the lawsuit says.
“Her fears that he would subject her to unwanted sex were justified one morning when Ms. Roe went to Brooks’ room to do his fair and make-up, he was on the bed, face down, wearing loose shorts and holding his crotch,” the complaint states. “She narrowly escaped another sexual assault because he was running late and other people were waiting to pick him up.”
The situation reached a boiling point in 2020 when Roe, in an email that was also sent to Brooks’ wife, said she couldn’t “work in an environment where explicit sexual comments are made.” He sought a court order to prevent her from bringing a complaint.
Roe’s legal team includes Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for several accusers who’ve brought lawsuits against high-profile figures in the entertainment and music industries.
Source: Hollywoodreporter
