Garth Brooks. Paul Morigi/Getty Images
Garth Brooks has broken his silence after being accused of sexual assault and battery.
“For the last two months, I even have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future could be if I didn’t write a check for a lot of thousands and thousands of dollars. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face,” Brooks, 62, said Thursday, October 3, in an announcement to Us Weekly.
“Hush money, regardless of how much or how little, continues to be hush money. In my mind, meaning I’m admitting to behavior I’m incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to a different,” he continued. “We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to talk out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on each side.”
“I need to play music tonight,” he added. “I need to proceed our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart these wonderful things are in query now. I trust the system, I don’t fear the reality, and I’m not the person they’ve painted me to be.”
Brooks was named in a Thursday, October 3, grievance obtained by CNN, during which an anonymous woman claimed that the country singer raped her in 2019 while she was working as a hairstylist for him.
Within the lawsuit, the hairstylist (known as Jane Roe) alleged that she began working for Brooks in 2017 after ceaselessly handling the glam for his wife, Trisha Yearwood. Roe also claimed that Brooks sent her sexually explicit text messages, repeatedly exposed his genitals in her presence and made “repeated remarks” about “having a threesome” with Yearwood, 60. (Brooks and Yearwood have been married since 2005 following respective divorces.)
Ahead of Roe’s lawsuit, Brooks anonymously filed a grievance to attempt to bar her from repeating the allegations and he vehemently denied her account.
“Defendant’s allegations are usually not true,” Brooks’ filing read, per CNN. “Defendant is well aware, nevertheless, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned popularity as an honest and caring person, together with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his profession and livelihood that may result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”
Roe’s attorneys, meanwhile, told CNN that Brooks was attempting to “silence” Roe in an “act of desperation.”
“We’re confident that Brooks shall be held accountable for his actions,” attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker said of their statement to the outlet. “We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward along with her grievance against Garth Brooks. The grievance filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood and within the rap and rock and roll industries, but in addition on the planet of country music.”
Sometimes America’s sweethearts go sour. From Morgan Wallen to The Chicks, the largest names in country music have been at the middle of some major controversies. Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer found themselves in hot water within the early 2000s after sharing their personal politics on a public stage. While performing across the […]
Yearwood, for her part, has not addressed Brooks’ scandal. Several days before Roe’s lawsuit made headlines, Yearwood posted an Instagram photo of the married couple performing in Las Vegas late last month.
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. Roy Rochlin/WireImage
Last yr, Brooks told Us Weekly that he was often “dependent” on Yearwood.
“I feel so helpless because there’s nothing I can’t do without her,” Brooks exclusively told Us in August 2023, months before they opened their joint Nashville bar. “There’s nothing I can’t do along with her and there’s nothing I can do without her. It’s a blessing and a curse that you are feeling so free and independent when she’s there and also you’re so dependent when she’s not there … I don’t think she feels this manner in any respect, but I do know I do.”
Before marrying Yearwood, the Grammy winner was married to first wife Sandy Mahl between 1986 and 2001. Three years after their wedding, Brooks admittedly cheated on Mahl, with whom he shares three daughters. They ultimately reconciled before splitting for good in 2000.
Should you or someone you understand has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
