Garth Brooks’ Tennessee mansion sold mere hours before he and his wife’s former makeup artist accused the country star of rape and sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
One day earlier, the 62-year-old Grammy Award winner and his wife Trisha Yearwood sold their sprawling property in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, which served as the set for more than 100 episodes of the latter’s Food Network series, “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen,” Realtor.com reports.
The couple, who have been married for nearly 19 years, initially listed the property for $4.5 million last year. They eventually lowered the asking price multiple times after failing to secure a buyer, ultimately selling the home for $3.34 million.
The makeup artist, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Roe, accused Brooks of brutally raping her in a hotel room in 2019, when they were in Los Angeles to record his Grammy tribute to Sam Moore, according to the complaint reviewed by the Daily News.
Roe also described other allegations of assault and harassment, including multiple instances in which Brooks allegedly groped her breasts, forced her to grab his genitalia, asked her for oral sex and shared unwanted sexual fantasies.
Roe said she initially began working for fellow country star Yearwood back in 1999 and started working with Brooks in 2017. She continued to work for him for roughly two years after the abuse began, saying in the lawsuit that she only did so because she needed the money.
Knowing a lawsuit was coming, Brooks last month filed a preemptive legal action in Mississippi in attempt to stop her from suing him, according to Roe’s complaint. He described the allegations as “false” and accused her of attempted extortion, defamation and infliction of emotional distress.
In the hours after Roe’s suit was filed, Brooks issued a statement that read: “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.”
That same night, Brooks performed a sold-out show at The Colosseum at Caesars as part of his Las Vegas residency scheduled through early next year.
“If there was ever a night that I really needed this, TONIGHT was that night!” Brooks subsequently wrote on Instagram, captioning a photo from the performance. “Thank you for my life!!!!!”