Country star Garth Brooks was accused of raping and sexually harassing a makeup artist in a lawsuit filed Thursday in California.
The alleged victim, identified as Jane Roe in the suit, claims Brooks raped her in a hotel room in Los Angeles in 2019.
According to the complaint reviewed by the Daily News, Brooks and Roe flew to L.A. so that he could record a Grammy Award tribute performance to Sam Moore. But curiously, Brooks and Roe were the only people on the private jet that day, the suit says.
When the two arrived at the hotel in L.A., Roe learned that Brooks had booked only one room for the two of them to share. In that room, Brooks physically overpowered Roe and raped her, at one point holding her upside down by her feet, the suit claims.
Roe says the trauma from the rape was so severe she contemplated suicide.
“With cold disregard for Ms. Roe, when Brooks was finished, it was business as usual,” the lawsuit reads. “Roe worked quickly to style his hair and do his makeup for the event so he was on time.”
Additionally, the suit claims Brooks would consistently harass Roe while she worked for him, describing his sexual fantasies with her and groping her breasts.
In one instance, Brooks walked out of the shower naked, forced Roe to grab his penis and asked her to perform oral sex on him, according to the suit. Roe says she pulled away and rejected Brooks’ request.
In the suit, Roe says she only continued working for Brooks because she needed the money. She first started working for Brooks’ wife, fellow country star Trisha Yearwood, in 1999, and began working with Brooks in 2017, the lawsuit says.
According to the complaint, Brooks filed a preemptive legal action in Mississippi last month under the name John Doe, seeking to stop Roe from suing him. He accused her of attempted extortion, defamation and infliction of emotional distress, and claimed her impending lawsuit would unfairly tarnish his reputation with “false allegations.”
“But our legal system is not in place to allow wealthy wrongdoers the ability to run work-arounds on sexual assault victims who attempt to hold perpetrators accountable,” Roe’s lawsuit reads in reference to Brooks’ failed attempt.
“We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks,” Roe’s attorneys said in a statement Thursday. “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,” the statement continued. “His efforts to silence our client … was nothing other than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation.”
Roe is represented in part by attorney Douglas Wigdor, referred to as “America’s most prominent #MeToo lawyer.” He has filed numerous sexual assault lawsuits against Harvey Weinstein, Sean “Diddy” Combs and other powerful figures.
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