Garth Brooks was accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse in a lawsuit filed Oct. 3 by a hairdresser/makeup artist who worked for him.

The 62-year-old country music star responded to plaintiff “Jane Roe’s” allegations in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment, saying he was “not the man they portrayed me to be.”

In September, Brooks anonymously filed a lawsuit against the accuser for attempted extortion and defamation.

Hours after Roe’s lawsuit was filed Thursday, Brooks took the stage in Las Vegas and referenced his personal struggles in a social media post.

What just happened?

On October 3, the former employee filed a lawsuit against him in the California Supreme Court in Los Angeles County. In the complaint, Roe, who said she began working with Brooks in 2017, alleged that he raped her, groped her, made unwanted sexual comments, undressed in her presence and sent her sexually explicit text messages throughout 2019.

Roe, who first began working with Brooks’ wife Trisha Yearwood in 1999, claimed that Brooks repeatedly made comments about having “threesomes” with her and Yearwood. She claimed Yearwood overheard the explicit comment “at least once.” Roe said she stopped working for Brooks and moved to Mississippi around May 2021.

Brooks denied Roe’s allegations in a statement.

“For the past two months, I have been harassed endlessly with threats, lies and tragic stories about what my future would be if I did not write a multi-million dollar check,” Brooks said. “It was like a loaded gun was being waved in my face. Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. For me, that means admitting to behavior that I am incapable of – ugly acts that no human being should ever do to another.”

It continued: “We filed a lawsuit against this person almost a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of reputation. In the interest of the families of both sides, we filed the complaint anonymously.”

The statement concluded: “I trust the system, I am not afraid of the truth and I am not the man they made me out to be.”

A representative for Yearwood did not respond to Yahoo Entertainment’s request for comment.

Roe’s allegations against Brooks

The makeup and hair professional said Brooks discovered she was having “financial difficulties” in 2019 and hired her more regularly, according to her complaint.

That year, Roe was getting her hair and makeup done when Brooks came out of the shower “naked, with an erection” and placed her hands on his genitals, according to her lawsuit. She said she refused his request to “perform oral sex on him.”

In May 2019, Roe traveled to Los Angeles with Brooks to record a Grammy tribute to Sam Moore. She said she was surprised when they were the only two passengers on Brooks’ private plane, as there are usually more members of his team present. At her hotel, she said Brooks “booked a one-bedroom hotel suite” and “she didn’t have a separate room.” She claimed she was raped there because she felt “trapped” and unable to “take care of him.” to escape physical domination”.

Roe claimed that after the alleged sexual assault, Brooks “expressed his sexual fantasies about her more frequently” and groped her breasts as she worked on his hair and makeup. She said he also sent her sexually explicit text messages and later took her phone and deleted messages he sent her.

She claimed Brooks tried to rape her in October 2019 but had to leave her because of another engagement.

“We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks,” Roe’s attorneys Douglas Wigdor and Hayley Baker told ABC News in a statement. They said the lawsuit “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.”

It continued: “We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions, and his efforts to silence our client by filing a preemptive lawsuit in Mississippi were nothing more than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation. “We encourage others who may have been victimized to reach out to us as no survivor should suffer in silence.”

Brooks sued Roe to block her lawsuit

Roe’s lawsuit notes that on September 13, Brooks filed a lawsuit against her (as Jane Roe) in the Southern District of Mississippi Northern Division Court under the pseudonym John Doe.

In the statement of claim obtained by Yahoo Entertainment, Brooks’ legal team said the lawsuit was filed “to seek relief from Defendant’s ongoing attempted extortion, defamation, false invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress through outrageous conduct, including.” the publication and threats to obtain “widespread publication of false allegations of sexual misconduct that would cause irreparable harm to (Brook’s) reputation, family, career and livelihood.”

Brooks, who requested a jury trial, said in his lawsuit that Roe’s “allegations are not true.”

He said he hired her “out of loyalty, friendship and a desire to improve her personal situation,” but her demands for “financial support” only increased, according to his complaint. He said that when he denied her a job with medical benefits, “she responded with false and outrageous allegations of sexual misconduct.”

Brooks’ lawsuit says he first heard of Roe’s sexual harassment allegations — “neither of which have any basis in fact” — in a July 17 letter in which her lawyers threatened to sue. Brooks’ lawyers received a follow-up letter on Aug. 23 saying Roe would “refrain from publicly filing her false and defamatory lawsuit against” him “in exchange for a multimillion-dollar payment.”

Brooks, who is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, says Roe knew her “false allegations” would cause “significant, irreparable harm” to his “well-deserved reputation as a decent and caring human being,” along with the inevitable harm to his family and the irreparable harm Damage to his career and livelihood.”

Brooks took the stage in Las Vegas just hours after the lawsuit was filed

Despite the lawsuit — and the headlines — Brooks took the stage on Thursday for his sold-out residency at the Coliseum at Caesars Palace.

After the show, he shared an emotional post on Instagram thanking his fans for getting him through the show.

“If there was ever a night I really needed this, it was TONIGHT! Thank you for my life!!!!! Love, g,” he wrote.

If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, help is available. RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 for survivors and offers free, anonymous help. 800-656-HOPE (4673) and online.rainn.org.