Garth Brooks has been compared to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in a statement issued by his alleged rape victim’s lawyer.
The country music giant, 62, was hit by a court claim on Thursday (03.10.24) by a woman identified only as Jane Roe – who says she spent years working as the musician’s hairstylist and make-up artist – that he raped her.
He hit back by branding the case part of an attempt to extort him, and the woman’s lawyer has now released a damning statement in response.
Attorney Douglas H Wigdor said: “I cannot get into settlement discussions, but the suggestion made by Brooks that he was unwilling to pay millions (to Jane Roe) is simply not true.
“It seems as though Sean Combs and Garth Brooks are using the same public relations team by attacking legitimate victims.”
Mr Wigdor’s statement went on: “We are very confident in our case and over time the public will see his true character rather than his highly curated persona.”
The attorney and his associates filed a lawsuit on Thursday in California on behalf of their anonymous client, who says in her suit Garth raped her in 2019 after she was hired as a hairstylist for the singer and his 60-year-old wife Trisha Yearwood.
Garth said in a statement after the claim was made public: “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. 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 behaviour I am incapable of – ugly acts no human should ever do to another.
“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.”
Mr Wigdor representing Combs’ singer ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, 37, when she filed a lawsuit against the rapped in November 2023, saying he repeatedly sexually assaulted and physically abused her throughout their on-off relationship.
Combs vehemently denied the allegations and they settled the lawsuit out of court within one day – with footage later emerging of him beating her in a hotel hallway.
News broke in September Combs had been arrested in New York on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
In a 14-page federal indictment, the rapper is alleged to have “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him” for decades.
Combs was also accused of using the acts to fulfill “his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct”.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges before a judge denied him bail and he was remanded to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until his trial, with a status hearing in his case scheduled for 9 October.
