Heavy/Getty Garth Brooks
Hours after Garth Brooks‘ former makeup artist filed an “extremely graphic lawsuit” against him, per Deadline, detailing accusations of rape and sexual assault, the country music superstar and former “Voice” advisor issued a stunning rebuttal on October 3, 2024. In it, Brooks accused the plaintiff — who went by the name “Jane Roe” in her lawsuit — of fabricating stories in an ongoing extortion attempt.
On the evening of October 3, Brooks released a statement to media outlets including People and Billboard, vehemently denying Roe’s accusations of “behavior I am incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to another.”
Brooks, who has been married to fellow country star Trisha Yearwood since 2005, claimed in his statement that he’s been “hassled to no end” by Roe during a two-month campaign of “threats, lies and tragic tales” against him. But the statement went on to say he refused to pay her “millions of dollars” in “hush money” over what he said were false accusations of sexual assault, including Roe’s claim that Brooks raped her in a hotel room in 2019.
Garth Brooks Decided to Go On With His Residency Show After Issuing Statement: ‘I Really Needed This’
Before Roe’s lawsuit was filed, CNN reported that an anonymous celebrity had attempted in mid-September to block his former makeup artist from suing him for assault and battery. When Roe went ahead with her lawsuit on October 3, CNN reporter Elizabeth Wagmeister confirmed in a tweet that the anonymous celebrity in the September filing had been Brooks.
In his statement, the two-time Grammy winner claimed that he took that legal action in September with hopes of shedding light on Rose’s extortion attempts and to keep her lawsuit from moving forward.
Brooks wrote, “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.”
He continued, “Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to another. We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.”
“I want to play music tonight,” added Brooks, who’s been on the road with Yearwood performing as well as volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. “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.”
Brooks did play music after issuing his statement, taking the stage in Las Vegas for one of his sold out residency shows at Caesars Palace. Just after midnight, he posted a photo from the show on social media and thanked the crowd for lifting him up.
If there was ever a night that I really needed this, TONIGHT was that night! Thank you for my life!!!!! love, g
“If there was ever a night that I really needed this,” he wrote, “TONIGHT was that night! Thank you for my life!!!!! love, g”
Garth Brooks Claimed in a September Court Filing That His Makeup Artist Was Threatening a ‘Fabricated Lawsuit’
GettyGarth Brooks co-hosting the 58th Academy Of Country Music Awards on May 11, 2023
In the lawsuit Brooks filed against his former makeup artist in September, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he claimed that after he denied Roe’s request for “salaried employment and medical benefits,” her attorney sent him a “confidential” letter accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Brooks insisted in his filing that Roe’s allegations were “not true,” the Review-Journal reported, and that she knew filing a “fabricated lawsuit” against him could cause “substantial, irreparable damage” to his “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.”
His lawsuit, filed in Mississippi, did not keep Roe from moving forward with her lawsuit, in which she confirmed that she is a celebrity makeup artist who works with “many” celebrities, according to USA Today. Roe said in her suit that she’d taken Yearwood on as a client in 1999 and began to work with Brooks in 2017, providing make-up and hair styling services, USA Today said.
Among the incidents Roe’s lawsuit outlines, according to the outlet, is a trip Roe said she took with Brooks in 2019 to Los Angeles for a Grammy event. She claimed that he booked only one room for the two of them, where he violently raped her.
“Brooks seized what he saw as an opportunity to subject a female employee to a side of Brooks that he conceals from the public,” the lawsuit reads, according to Deadline, which reported that Roe is asking for a jury trial and undisclosed damages.
The filing continued, “This side of Brooks believes he is entitled to sexual gratification when he wants it, and using a female employee to get it, is fair game.”
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Garth Brooks Issues Bombshell Rebuttal to Assault Lawsuit, Claiming Extortion Plot