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Garth Brooks’ former makeup artist accuses him of sexual assault
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Garth Brooks’ former makeup artist accuses him of sexual assault

A makeup artist accused country megastar Garth Brooks of sexually assaulting her in a lawsuit her lawyers filed Thursday.

The woman, identified in the lawsuit by the pseudonym Jane Roe, says Brooks raped her in a hotel room and subjected her to unwanted sexual advances, which she said left her so traumatized that she contemplated suicide.

In another lawsuit filed by Brooks in September, the woman’s attorneys allege, the singer claims the woman tried to extort him for money by threatening to sue over allegations of sexual misconduct that he claims are trumped up.

The woman is represented by Douglas Wigdor, a prominent attorney who represented eight clients in sexual assault lawsuits against disgraced former film producer Harvey Weinstein; Jeanne Christensen, partner at Wigdor’s firm; and Nashville attorney Hayley Baker.

Representatives for Brooks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks. The complaint filed today shows that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood, and the rap and rock ‘n’ roll industries, but also in the world of country music. ‘, a statement from the lawyers read in part.

According to the lawsuit, the woman had been doing Brooks’ makeup and hair styling since 2017. The woman claims the misconduct began in 2019. The lawsuit accuses Brooks of raping the woman in a hotel room during a trip to Los Angeles for a Grammy tribute to another artist. The woman also accuses Brooks of groping her, frequently exposing himself while changing clothes for her, sending her inappropriate messages and discussing his sexual fantasies with her.

The lawsuit does not specify exactly when the woman stopped working for Brooks, but says she moved to Mississippi in May 2021.

An anonymous plaintiff, identified only as a celebrity living in Tennessee, sued an unnamed woman he said previously worked for him in a federal court in Mississippi on September 13, alleging the woman planned to sue unless he paid her several million dollars. The lawsuit filed Thursday says Brooks was the person who sued the woman in Mississippi.

In the lawsuit filed in Mississippi, the plaintiff alleges that allegations of sexual misconduct in a letter the woman’s attorneys sent him in July before they sued him were untrue.

“However, Defendant is well aware of the significant, irreparable harm that such false allegations would cause to Plaintiff’s well-deserved reputation as a decent and caring person, together with the inevitable harm to his family and the irreparable harm to his career and livelihood that would the consequences if she were to make good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her trumped-up lawsuit,” according to the lawsuit against the woman.

The plaintiff’s attorneys see the Mississippi lawsuit as a preemptive attempt to silence their client.

“We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions and his attempts to silence our client by filing a preemptive complaint in Mississippi were nothing more than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation,” the statement reads. statement from the lawyers. “We encourage others who may have been victimized to contact us as no survivor should suffer in silence.”

An employee of the California Superior Court for Los Angeles County said the lawsuit has not yet appeared in court, but it often takes at least two days for a filing to be accepted and assigned a docket number. The lawsuit was filed Thursday, according to the woman’s attorneys.

The lawsuit brings six claims against Brooks: assault, battery, sexual battery, gender violence and violations of the Bane Act and Ralph Act, two California state laws that protect people from violence or intimidation and threats of violence.

The Mississippi lawsuit accuses the woman of defamation, false light, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMeAleft.