Garth Brooks has insisted he is "incapable" of the "ugly acts" he has been accused of by a former employee.
The 62-year-old country star is the subject of a sexual assault and battery lawsuit filed by a make-up artist, known anonymously as Jane Roe, who alleged she was raped during a 2019 work trip with the 'River' singer, but he's issued a statement in which he claimed he had spent months being subjected to "threats and lies" warning what would happen if he didn't hand over "many millions of dollars".
He said in a statement: "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 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."
The 'Unanswered Prayers' hitmaker does "not fear the truth" and has faith in the legal system that he will be exonerated.
He added: “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.”
The lawsuit accused Brooks of having used his power as her employer to get the “sexual gratification” he “believes he is entitled to,” and that he raped her in a hotel suite in May 2019 while on a business trip to Los Angeles, before making another attempt to force himself on her in October that year.
The suit also accuses Brooks of repeatedly exposing his genitals and buttocks to Roe, talking about sex and sharing sexual fantasies, regularly changing his clothing in front of her, and sending a string of explicit text messages to her.
During one alleged incident, the 'If Tomorrow Never Comes' crooner is said to have "grabbed her hands and forced them" onto his genitals immediately after he walked out of the shower.
Brooks - who has been married to Trisha Yearwood since 2005 but has Taylor,31, August, 29, and Allie, 27, with his first wife Sandy Mahl - had previously anonymously filed a lawsuit trying to shut down the allegations.
That lawsuit states: "Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit."
Roe's attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker said in a statement to CNN: "We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions.
"We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks. The complaint filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood and in the rap and rock and roll industries but also in the world of country music."
