Content Warning: This article contains discussions of sexual assault. Please read with care.
Garth Brooks is one of the most popular country singers of all time. Er, scratch that. In terms of record sales, he is the most popular country singer of all time.
He was a phenomenon in the 1990s, and remains a cultural touchstone for the genre as a whole. This legacy is what makes the harrowing allegations against Brooks so upsetting. The country singer was accused of rape by a former makeup artist who worked for him. The woman alleges that she was assaulted by Brooks in a hotel room suite, then proceeded to behave as though nothing had happened.
These allegations, and its accompanying lawsuit, have obviously set the entertainment world on its head. Let’s delve further into them, and the woman who has made them.
The makeup artist has kept her identity a secret
The woman who worked as Garth Brooks’ makeup artist has opted to keep her identity hidden from the public. She has filed the lawsuit under the alias Jane Roe, in an effort to protect herself from any fans who may want to lash out at her. Good Morning America provided lawsuit information.
Despite keeping her name a secret, the woman did provide a few crucial details about her past with both Brooks and Brooks’ wife, Trisha Yearwood. She revealed that she’s worked as a makeup artist for Yearwood as far back as 1999, and continued to work for Yearwood throughout the 21st century. She then assumed work as a makeup artist for Brooks starting in 2017.
Jane Roe claims that the alleged rape took place when she was traveling with Brooks from Nashville to Los Angeles. The country singer was slated to perform at the Grammy Awards, and booked a lone hotel suite for him and Roe. In the latter’s recollection, Brooks often traveled with an entourage, but in this particular instance, it was just the two of them.
She claims Brooks was inappropriate multiple times
Once the two were in the hotel suite, Jane Roe claims that Garth Brooks appeared in the door naked. He then allegedly assaulted her. Once he was done, Roe claims that the singer expected her to get to work on his hair and makeup, as though things were normal as ever.
This is not the only instance in which Roe claims to have suffered unwanted sexual contact with the country singer. She alleged that the singer appeared naked in front of her on a separate occasion in 2019. She alleged that Brooks grabbed her hands and place them on his genitals.
The lawsuit filed by Roe goes on to detail several other examples of the country singer exposing himself to her. She also claims that Brooks would regularly text her sexually explicit messages when they weren’t together. The lawsuit also suggests that Brooks took advantage of Roe’s financial straits and payed her increasingly more as a means of keeping her around.
Garth Brooks has emphatically denied Jane Roe’s allegations. He issued a statement claiming that he will not hand over “hush money,” as he sees it as a means of admitting guilt to something he did not do. More details about the lawsuit, and the identity of Jane Roe, are likely to come to light.