Sexual assault charges against Garth Brooks were filed on Thursday, hours before the country superstar was scheduled to resume his residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. (Image: Live Nation)The complaint, filed in a California state court on Thursday by a woman using the pseudonym “Jane Doe,” claims that the incidents which allegedly include a rape committed by Brooks during a work trip all occurred in 2019.
Representatives for Brooks didn t immediately respond to requests for comment. However, CNN, which broke the story, reported that the singer “fiercely” denied his accuser’s claims in a pre-emptive complaint he filed in Mississippi as a “John Doe.”
According to the woman’s suit, she started working for Brooks in 2017, after having worked for his wife, fellow country singer Trisha Yearwood, for 18 years.
In addition to sexual assault and battery, the woman s suit accuses Brooks of repeatedly exposing his genitals and buttocks, sharing sexual fantasies, repeatedly changing his clothing in front of her, and sending her sexually explicit texts.
During one alleged incident, the woman s lawsuit claims, Brooks walked out of the shower naked, “grabbed her hands and forced them” onto his genitals. (The woman claims she was often required to work at Brooks’ home.)
The alleged rape happened in a hotel room during a work trip to LA, according to the woman s lawsuit.
“Once in Los Angeles at the hotel,” the complaint states, “Ms. Roe could not believe that Brooks had booked a hotel suite with one bedroom and she did not have a separate room.”
The woman s lawsuit alleges that her boss “appeared in the doorway to the bedroom, completely naked” before raping her. Afterward, the lawsuit claims, Brooks began physically groping her. The complaint adds that Brooks made “repeated remarks” about “having a threesome” with Yearwood.
Brooks ResponseBrooks’ previous lawsuit claimed that the woman s lawyer attempted to blackmail him, sending him a letter threatening a sexual assault lawsuit if she didn’t provide his client with a full-time job with medical benefits.
Defendant’s allegations are not true,” Brooks’ previous lawsuit stated. “Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”
The woman s attorneys (Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen, and Hayley Baker) told CNN they are “confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions” and that “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.”
Hours after the lawsuit was filed, Brooks will take the stage at his ongoing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which continues through March 9.
