By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country music superstar Garth Brooks was accused of rape and sexual assault in a lawsuit filed by an unnamed hair and makeup artist on Thursday.
In a complaint submitted to Superior Court in Los Angeles, a woman identified as Jane Roe said she had provided hair and makeup services to Brooks from 2017 to 2020. The woman said Brooks raped her in a hotel room in Los Angeles in 2019 when she accompanied him on a trip to help him prepare for an event.
She also said Brooks repeatedly appeared naked in front of her, groped her breasts while she did his hair and makeup and sent sexually explicit text messages.
A spokesperson for the Grammy Award-winning “Friends in Low Places” singer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the lawsuit, the woman claims Brooks tried to pre-empt her filing with his own legal action.
She said Brooks filed a complaint in Mississippi in September, under the name “John Doe,” claiming there was a woman who was “a lying extortionist who intended on destroying his professional reputation.”
He asked the judge to conceal his identify and declare the woman’s accusations were false, according to her California suit.
The plaintiff is seeking a jury trial and compensatory and punitive damages.
Brooks, 62, ranks as one of the best-selling musicians of all time with more than 162 million albums sold.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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