LOS ANGELES, California — Garth Brooks, one of the biggest country music stars of the past three decades, is being accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a hair-and-makeup stylist, reports say.
CNN reports the lawsuit was filed Thursday in a court in California. The lawsuit says the woman worked for country singer Trisha Yearwood, who is Brooks’ wife, since 1999 and started also working for Brooks in 2017.
The lawsuit says the assault occurred in a hotel suite in October 2019 following a Grammys tribute to soul musician Sam Moore. The woman alleges that in the suite, Brooks appeared naked in the doorway to the bedroom and raped her.
The suit says that he then proceeded as though nothing had happened and expected her to do his hair and makeup immediately after. The woman also accuses Brooks of standing in front of her naked in his home earlier in 2019 and grabbing her hands, putting them on his genitals.
Brooks, 62, denies the allegations in the lawsuit and says it is a “shakedown,” TMZ reports.
TMZ reports Brooks says he has 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.”
Brooks sued the woman about one month ago, accusing her of defamation and extortion, reports say.
“Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money,” Brooks said in a statement to People. “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.”
Brooks has been one of the best-selling music stars since the 1990s, with an estimated 170 million recordings sold. He’s won multiple awards, including two Grammys and 17 American Music Awards.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
