Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 13 Horrifying Allegations Against Garth Brooks Revealed

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. One of country music's biggest stars, Garth Brooks, is accused of sexual battery and rape in a new lawsuit filed in LA. I have 13 shocking allegations from the suit and how Garth Brooks is responding to the accuser's claims. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Garth Brooks is undoubtedly one of the best-selling

Starting point is 00:00:31 singers of all time. Only the Beatles have sold more albums. Brooks sold out stadium concerts for years. His first album was released in 1989, and he's been a star ever since. He's currently playing Caesar's Palace in a residency going into next year. Brooks is married to fellow country singer Trisha Yearwood and is loved by his fans. Now, though, he's being sued by a former hair and makeup artist who says Brooks sexually battered her. Brooks is denying the claims in a statement, and I'll have that full statement for you later on in the show. The lawsuit was filed in LA County. And an interesting thing about it, the Wigder Law Firm, which represented Cassie Ventura in her sexual assault and sex trafficking lawsuit against

Starting point is 00:01:14 Sean Combs, is representing the woman who is suing Garth Brooks. Now, we don't know her name. She's identified only as Jane Roe, and she worked as both a makeup artist and hairdresser for both Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood for several years. The suit claims the woman has both audio recordings of phone calls with Brooks and text messages to support her claims. I'll read one of those text exchanges later. The suit claims that Jane Roe was hired to do makeup for Trisha Yearwood in 1999, and then she started doing hair and makeup for Brooks in 2017. In 2019, the suit claims Jane Roe started having money problems and Garth Brooks found out and took advantage of that.

Starting point is 00:01:57 The suit says Brooks seized what he saw as an opportunity to subject a female employee to a side of Brooks that he conceals from the public. This side of Brooks believes he is entitled to sexual gratification when he wants it, and using a female employee to get it is fair game. Now, I'm going to describe one of the first allegations as delicately as I can. The lawsuit uses vivid and descriptive language, often quoting what Brooks is alleged to have said. And I've cleaned up this next part quite a bit. The suit describes an incident in 2019 where Jane Roe claims she was at Garth Brooks' home and he walked out of the shower and greeted her naked

Starting point is 00:02:36 and that he had an erection. Jane Roe claims in the suit that Brooks told her he'd fantasized about that moment and grabbed her hand and placed it on him and then told her he wanted her to perform oral sex with her glasses on so when he climaxed that would happen on her glasses. Now Jane Rose said she didn't do what Brooks wanted her to do but she needed the money so she didn't leave. Then she said in May of that year she flew to Los Angeles with Brooks for the Grammys. The suit says usually there were others on Brooks' private jet, but this time Ms. Rowe and Brooks were the only two passengers. Once in the Los Angeles hotel, Ms. Rowe could not believe that Brooks had booked a hotel suite with one bedroom and she did not have a separate room. Jane Rowe then claims that Brooks appeared in the door of the bedroom naked, flexed his muscles, and she said she felt sick to her stomach and trapped. The suit reads,

Starting point is 00:03:30 Tragically, her worst fears came true when seconds later, he was towering over her, his six foot and almost 300 pound frame, ready to pounce on Ms. Roe, who was less than five feet and 100 pounds. As she began to panic, he grabbed her hands and pulled her into the next room and onto the bed where she could not escape his physical domination. Brooks' rape of Ms. Rowe was painful and traumatic. Having no regard for her well-being and intent on his own sexual gratification at the expense of Ms. Rowe's physical, mental, and emotional trauma, at some point during the nightmare, Brooks even held her small body upside down by her feet and penetrated her. The suit claims that Brooks insisted the woman wear her glasses during this sexual assault, and when it was over, she had to do his hair and makeup so he wasn't late for the Grammys. The suit also claims that Brooks

Starting point is 00:04:22 claimed he'd had sex with women in every corner of a hotel room on every surface, no matter their race. The allegations in this civil suit being made against singer Garth Brooks really go to show you how one day you could need a lawyer. And if you need one after being hurt in an accident, Morgan & Morgan could be the law firm for you. Just in the last few months, Morgan & Morgan has won some really big verdicts like $12 million in Florida, $26 million in Philly, and $6.8 million in New York. All of these were much higher than the highest insurance company offer. Even if your case isn't worth seven figures, starting a claim could get you the money you deserve. And seeing if you have a case can be done in eight clicks or less on your phone. Give it a try. Start a claim at ForThePeople.com slash Crime Fix. Now, after the alleged sexual assault, Jane Roe claims Brooks did things with his wife in front

Starting point is 00:05:15 of her that made her very uncomfortable. The suit says Brooks intentionally fondled, grabbed, and kissed his wife in close physical proximity to Ms. Rowe in a way that made Ms. Rowe feel extremely uncomfortable. In addition, Brooks would tell Ms. Rowe that he thought it was hot to see his wife be with another woman sexually and implied that she could be the other woman. Although it was disturbing, she did not respond to these suggestions. Ms. Rowe had worked for Ms. Yearwood since 1999 and worried that Ms. Yearwood would hear things he was saying to Ms. Rowe and be upset with her, even though, of course, such behavior was initiated by Brooks. Rowe also claims she has physical injuries from the sexual assault. Ms. Rowe was physically ill and already in pain by the time they flew back to Nashville.

Starting point is 00:06:03 In fact, a migraine had started. In the weeks after this horrific violence, Ms. Rowe experienced debilitating pain in her neck and lower back, which she sought medical treatment for. In addition, she had to seek treatment from her OBGYN for damage Brooks caused during the Los Angeles rape. Then she claimed Garth Brooks began to talk to her more and more about sex and fondled her regularly. The suit says, after the sexual assault and rape in Los Angeles, Brooks increased the

Starting point is 00:06:32 frequency of saying his sexual fantasies about her aloud, along with his physical groping of her breasts against her will. Disgustingly, he often forced her to do this while she was styling his hair and doing his makeup. At times, Brooks implied the groping would continue despite Ms. Rowe insisting this was unwanted. For example, one time when he said while groping her, next time we mess around, and Ms. Rowe clearly said no, he became visibly angry at Ms. Rowe and left. Ms. Rowe, needing the financial support from her work for Brooks, was petrified that her refusals would cause him to fire her. Jane Rowe's suit goes on to say at times that she wanted to commit suicide. I mentioned earlier that Jane Rowe claims she had text messages and audio recordings of the phone calls. Jane Rowe claims Brooks forced her

Starting point is 00:07:21 to sext with him and that he used more than one cell phone and different email addresses, some with the names of females. One of those text messages is featured in the suit. Part of it is redacted to hide another woman's name, but Jane Roe says Brooks wanted her to talk in a sexualized manner. She wrote, warm fact, in that huge stick you carry, Roosevelt. Brooks is alleged to have responded, I'll take that nickname. Thank you. I love you with heart emojis. Now, the suit claims that Brooks deleted many of the texts from Jane Roe's phone that showed sexting.

Starting point is 00:07:58 Now to the alleged recordings of phone calls, one of which is from 2020, in which Jane Roe claims she was upset that Brooks had told his wife that Jane Roe had seen him naked from the waist down. The suit claims, Brooks tried to minimize what was said and said, oh, sweetheart, for one, I think I know Trisha pretty well and she wasn't uncomfortable. And I said, you saw my stuff. That was it. We were talking about something and it just came up. Look, I'm worried you are overthinking this. In other quoted exchanges, it appears that Brooks may be acknowledging that something happened. I work with the best and I don't want to do something

Starting point is 00:08:36 stupid that breaks this team up. So I will do whatever I need to do or do whatever I don't need to do. But I just want to keep working with you. But if you feel weird working with me, it's fine. We don't have to work together. In response, Ms. Rowe said, I've never found myself in a situation that is, I just don't know that I'm going to be able to look up from. And I'm frankly, I am a little frightened of you. I really am. Brooks said, sweet baby. I'm so sorry. I can't imagine. That makes me frightened of you. Another alleged phone call discusses Jane Roe telling Brooks no to fooling around. Ms. Roe said over the phone to Brooks, I want to make sure that even though I've told you no,

Starting point is 00:09:17 that you're cool with no. I mean, no as in no fooling around like we had done. You are cool with that, right? Ms. Roe also mentioned that she saw him and that he was pretty upset with her. Brooks replied, no, I would never be upset with you. Look at it this way, okay? Look at it the best way I can explain it is me and you broke into a jewelry store. And the second we broke the door, we looked at each other and said, this isn't right. But we already had broken the door. And so I think me and Brooks allegedly said in another call, I'm lucky to have you. I don't want this to go anywhere, and I don't want something that happened in the moment to screw the whole 20 years I've known you. Jane Roe's attorneys issued a statement applauding her for coming forward. And they say that Brooks actually filed his own federal lawsuit in Mississippi anonymously, trying to block Jane Roe from filing her suit in what they call an

Starting point is 00:10:17 act of desperation and attempted intimidation. Garth Brooks is denying these allegations, and he has issued a statement to Deadline calling this a shakedown for millions of dollars. The statement says, 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. The statement continues, 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,

Starting point is 00:10:53 ugly acts no human should ever do to another. Brooks also responded to his filing a federal lawsuit to try to block Jane Roe from filing her suit. 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. I want to bring in entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel. Jonathan, your first thoughts on the allegations being made by Jane Roe.

Starting point is 00:11:22 Well, it certainly is evident that the Me Too movement, the Me Too extended moment that we saw several years ago, that almost inexplicably by and large bypassed music, has now with the conviction of R. Kelly, the litigation and charges against Diddy, and now the allegations against Garth Brooks, that Me Too is a wave that is finally cresting on the beach of music. This is very much in the vein of the kinds of litigation and allegations that we've seen earlier in filmed entertainment, film and TV, in politics, and in certain other areas, but not so much in music until the last little while. Does it give her lawsuit any more credence or credibility, her claims, in that she's being represented by the same law firm that represented Cassie Ventura, the Wigder Law Firm?

Starting point is 00:12:34 You know, Cassie Ventura, this lawsuit was settled within a day. But does that mean anything at all? Well, and in the case of Cassie, of course, there was video as well. This is video of Diddy, apparently Diddy, beating, kicking, physically abusing her in a hotel hallway. It does add some weight. We have to remember that the court of public opinion is not the same as the court of law, and the court of law is ultimately where allegations get tested and resolved. But there are several things that are quite notable. One of them is that the legal complaint that the anonymous plaintiff, Ms. Rowe, filed against Garth Brooks is written, in my view, as much for the press and public as it is for the court. There are a lot, notably, there are a lot of adjectives in it, which you wouldn't normally see in a complaint. Normally a complaint lays out the facts

Starting point is 00:13:52 without, and then says how the facts constitute a violation of law or a cause of action, a claim. But here we have references to Garth Brooks allegedly sharing his perverted thoughts about his sexual prowess and remarks like, fortunately, Garth Brooks is not entitled to abuse the law. to a lawsuit that Brooks himself apparently filed. It was an anonymous John Doe lawsuit against an anonymous defendant attempting to preempt this lawsuit, apparently. So, you know, there's very much an awareness here that the eyes of the country and indeed in many ways of the world are upon this lawsuit. I want to talk to you about how unusual that is for somebody like Garth Brooks or anybody at all to file what is being described as a preemptive lawsuit, trying to block her essentially from filing her complaint. And he did it anonymously.

Starting point is 00:15:00 What are your thoughts on that? Well, it's a real nonstarter. I mean, people are entitled in this country to file lawsuits. They are entitled to send a draft of a lawsuit with a demand letter, as the Rose lawyers allegedly did. And to say, look, either we settle this or we're filing a lawsuit, Brooks characterizes that as extortion. Again, apparently it's Brooks. This is an anonymous preemptive lawsuit. But assuming that it's Brooks, he characterizes it as extortion, as defamation against him. It's a Hail Mary with a deflated football. It's not going very far. It seems like an extraordinary step, though.

Starting point is 00:15:59 I mean, she has she's claiming she has text messages. She's claiming she has audio recordings of phone calls in which it appears, according to the quotes featured in the lawsuit, that he's acknowledging something happened at some point. What that is, it sounds like there's a dispute there. But that seems like an extraordinary step to go to court to try to block somebody from filing a lawsuit like this. It is an extraordinary step. I'm really not aware of that having happened in a case like this. Not in my memory, certainly, if ever. And usually the remedy for an unjustified lawsuit, if one considers it unjustified, is to counter sue for malicious prosecution, which itself is a very steep road to climb because the system in this country allows people to sue each other for alleged misconduct and wrongful conduct. So, yeah, it really struck me as something that was almost amateurish, honestly, because I think the likelihood of any sort of traction from that preemptive lawsuit is, it's just not there. Well, it obviously failed because they went ahead and filed suit. There's some pretty

Starting point is 00:17:40 graphic things described in this complaint filed by Jane Roe. You know, talk of, you know, being fondled. I mean, the sexual assault. She's saying she had to go to the gynecologist because she had physical injuries from this May of 2019 incident that she calls a rape in the hotel room. So there may be medical records that corroborate this. I mean, there's talk about him saying he wanted to get shampoo bottles that were shaped like sex toys. I mean, there's all this like sexual stuff, sexual talk. How harmful is this to Garth Brooks's image? Because he's a star. I mean, he has fans all over the world. People love him.

Starting point is 00:18:26 Country music fans do. So how hard of a hit is he going to take from this lawsuit? It is reputationally very, very damaging to Garth Brooks. I have to assume that in addition to having attorneys engaged in dealing with this, that he has publicists, whether his usual publicists, whoever they may be, or crisis publicists who are advising as well, because people are very aware that even though the, you know, the legally decisive resolution of a lawsuit is of course in a court of law, that the court of public opinion influences people's opinions,

Starting point is 00:19:21 influences people's willingness to buy tickets, to buy, to listen to music, to buy music, if anyone buys music these days, but certainly to listen to music and to go to concerts. So, you know, it is, as you point out, an extremely detailed, extremely sexual, you know, he towered over her, you know, naked with an erection as an allegation and on and on and on and said what he wanted to have happen next. And, you know, there's a point at which we won't get into the details, but it's just very, it's sexually explicit. It's a very explicit and, you know, angry, and as I said, adjective laden in places, complaint that really is written, it's written to use the litigation privilege, which allows people to make allegations if they have a sincere belief in them with insulation from defamation lawsuits. It's written to make maximum use of the litigation privilege. It certainly kind of reads like a press

Starting point is 00:20:43 release in some respects, and it's very salacious. And we want to reiterate, Garth Brooks is denying this, but the woman says, Ms. Rose says that she has audio recordings, text messages, things of that nature. So she's saying she has some documentary evidence. We'll keep an eye on it and see where it goes. Jonathan Handel, thank you so much. Thank you. It's good to be with you. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me.

Starting point is 00:21:09 I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 13 Horrifying Allegations Against Garth Brooks Revealed

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 13 Horrifying Allegations Against Garth Brooks Revealed

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