The woman who has accused Garth Brooks of sexual assault has filed sanctions against the singer after he revealed her name without her consent, calling it an example of his “abusive behavior.”
“This afternoon, Wigdor filed for sanctions against Garth Brooks for his intentional and unlawful disclosure of a rape victim’s identity,” the law firm said in a statement to Us Weekly on Wednesday, October 9. “We also filed an emergency motion to seal the aforementioned amended complaint.”
The statement continued: “In revealing our client’s name, Brooks exhibits precisely the type of retaliatory and abusive behavior that compels sexual assault victims to remain silent. We are putting our client’s mental health first and requesting this be rectified immediately.”
Us has reached out to Brooks for comment.
On Tuesday, October 8, Brooks, 62, filed a complaint accusing the woman in the lawsuit of leaking his name while the country star was waiting for a judge to sign off on his own filing, according to court documents obtained by Us. Brooks claimed that his filing would have used pseudonyms for both parties, which would have been “John Doe vs. Jane Roe.”
The legal document alleged that Jane Doe’s attorneys confirmed Brooks’ identity while his case was under review. Brooks was initially named in an October 3 complaint that claimed he raped an unnamed woman in 2019 while she was working for him as a hair stylist. Brooks has denied the allegations.
Brooks’ attorneys said that the musician’s pseudonym filing was “moot” and he would refile his paperwork using both parties’ names.
In the subsequent filing, Brooks identified himself and his accuser by name. He claimed that she accused him of sexual assault after he did not agree to her “demands for salaried employment and medical benefits.”
After the woman’s name was identified in the court documents, the accuser slammed Brooks for the decision to include her real name.
“Garth Brooks just revealed his true self. Out of spite and to punish, he publicly named a rape victim,” read a statement from her attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker. “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.”
In the original lawsuit, the woman claimed that she initially worked for Brooks’ wife, Trisha Yearwood, in 2017. The accuser alleged that Brooks sent her sexually explicit text messages, repeatedly exposed his genitals in her presence and made “repeated remarks” about “having a threesome” with her and Yearwood, 60.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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