Country music star Garth Brooks said “I am not the man they have painted me to be” after a former employee accused him of sexual assault and battery in a US lawsuit.
The female employee claimed that Brooks raped her in a hotel room in 2019, and subjected her to unwanted sexual conduct, including exposing himself on several occasions and “groping her breasts”.
The woman, identified as Jane Roe in the lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, claimed the trauma from the alleged sexual assault became “so unbearable” that she contemplated taking her own life.
Country music star Garth Brooks on stage at Croke Park in Dublin in 2022 (Brian Lawless/PA)
Two-time Grammy winner Brooks has since said the lawsuit is an attempt at extortion for “millions of dollars”.
In a statement to the PA news agency, Brooks said: “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 behaviour I am incapable of – ugly acts no human should ever do to another.”
Country music star Garth Brooks claimed a lawsuit filed against him is extortion for ‘millions of dollars’ (Niall Carson/PA)
In the lawsuit, the woman claims she was forced to keep working for Brooks because of financial hardship, which he knew about and allegedly exploited.
Brooks filed an anonymous lawsuit last month in Mississippi in which he asked a judge to stop the publication of “false allegations of sexual misconduct” by the woman, claiming it would “irreparably harm (his) reputation, family, career and livelihood”.
In a statement to PA, he added: “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.”
Lawyers from Wigdor LLP, acting on behalf of the woman, said in a statement to PA: “We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks.
“The complaint filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood and in the rap and rock and roll industries but also in the world of country music.
“We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions and his efforts to silence our client through the filing of a preemptive complaint in Mississippi was nothing other than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation.
“We encourage others who may have been victimised to contact us as no survivor should suffer in silence.”
– The Samaritans can be contacted on 116123 or email [email protected].