Garth Brooks’ former hair stylist, who used a pseudonym when she sued the singer last week for alleged sexual assault, is reacting to his revealing her name.
The Grammy winner, 62, identified his accuser in a complaint filed in Mississippi Tuesday, according to documents obtained by Us Weekly. The accuser had previously been identified as “Jane Roe,” a former makeup artist to Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood.
“Garth Brooks just revealed his true self. Out of spite to and to punish, he publicly named a rape victim,” read a statement the accuser’s legal team shared with the outlet. “With no legal justification, Brooks outed her because he thinks the laws don’t apply to him. On behalf of our client, we will be moving for maximum sanctions against him immediately.”
The “Friends in Low Places” singer said he had planned to use pseudonyms for both himself and Roe, who began working for him in 2019 until she “threatened to publish lies about him — intending to blackmail Plaintiff into paying her millions of dollars,” according to the filing.
But, he said, when Roe gave the court “fewer than 48 hours after filing her opposition before publicly leaking Plaintiff’s identity to the press,” Brooks figured a “John Doe vs. Jane Roe” filing was “moot” and decided to use both parties’ names in his filing, according to Tuesday’s complaint that identified them both.
Brooks also alleges that Roe’s accusations date back to mid-July, when he says she was struggling financially and threatened to file her suit unless he “pay Defendant millions of dollars not to,” per Us. He says a letter followed with similar threats.
Roe alleged in her suit last week Brooks raped her in a Los Angeles hotel room in 2019. Roe also accused Brooks of long-running sexual harassment during her employment.
Brooks has denied the allegations.
Douglas H. Wigdor, “America’s most prominent #MeToo lawyer,” is among the attorneys representing Roe.