American country singer Garth Brooks was accused on Thursday of sexual assault by a hairdresser and makeup artist who claims to have worked for him, as reported by CNN and Efe.
The lawsuit, filed in a California court and accessed by the channel, states that the incidents occurred in 2019. The plaintiff also alleges that the award-winning performer raped her during a work trip.
The woman claims that she started working for him in 2017 and that before taking care of his hair and makeup, she was hired in 1999 as a hairdresser and makeup artist by his then-wife, Trisha Yearwood.
Her accusation adds that in addition to the sexual assault, the singer frequently exposed his genitals to her, talked to her about sex and his sexual fantasies, changed clothes in front of her, and sent explicit sexual messages.
The plaintiff points out that once in 2019, he came out of the shower naked, grabbed her hands and took them to his genitals, and that same year, during a work trip to Los Angeles, he raped her in a hotel room.
The woman's lawyers said they are confident that the singer "will be held accountable for his actions."
"We applaud the courage of our client in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks. The complaint filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in American companies, Hollywood, and the rap and rock and roll industries, but also in the world of country music," they said in a statement to CNN.
The channel reported that they have contacted both Brooks and Yearwood and have not received a response.
Brooks, 62, has won two Grammys for Ropin the Wind (1991) and In Another's Eyes (1997), has been nominated a total of 14 times for those awards, and has been nominated for around fifty awards at the Country Music Academy, winning close to half of them.