Country Music News

Garth Brooks responds to lawsuit: “I am not the man they have painted me to be”

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Through his representatives, Garth Brooks has issued a statement responding to a lawsuit filed against him by a woman who accuses him of sexual assault and battery. In the statement, Brooks says the woman has trying to extort him.

“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,” he says. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.

“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.”

Brooks goes on to say, “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.”

He concludes by saying, “I want to play music tonight. 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.”

According to the lawsuit obtained by ABC News, the woman, referred to throughout the court documents as Jane Roe, is identified as a professional makeup artist and hairstylist who was first hired to work for Brooks’ wife, Trisha Yearwood, in 1999, and then began working with Brooks in 2017. She claimed that Brooks sexually assaulted her in 2019 and also made multiple explicit remarks and advances she said were unwelcome.

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