Garth Brooks responds to lawsuit accusing him of rape: ‘I am not the man they have painted me to be’

Published: Oct. 4, 2024 at 11:57 AM EDT

(Gray News) – Country music star Garth Brooks has responded to a new lawsuit filed in California on Thursday that accuses him of sexual assault and battery.

In a statement to Billboard, Brooks denied the allegations and said the accusations “felt like having a loaded gun waved in my face.”

“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,” Brooks’ statement said, in part. “… I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”

A report from CNN says the lawsuit accuses Brooks of raping a woman in 2019 who worked as his hairstylist and makeup artist.

The woman was only identified as “Jane Roe.”

She alleges the rape took place during a work trip in which Brooks only booked one hotel room for the two of them, and the woman was “shocked” to find out she did not have her own room.

In addition to the alleged sexual assault, the lawsuit “accuses Brooks of repeatedly exposing his genitals and buttocks; talking about sex and sharing sexual fantasies with Roe; regularly changing his clothing in front of Roe; and sending sexually explicit text messages,” CNN reports.

According to CNN, the woman began handling hair and makeup services for Brooks in 2017. She says she was first hired to do hair and makeup for his wife, Trisha Yearwood, in 1999.