Garth Brooks‘ wife, Trisha Yearwood, and his three daughters are sticking by his side after the singer has been accused of sexual assault and battery, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly.
According to the source, who recently worked with the singer, “Garth is known to be a very kind and nice man, so these allegations are very shocking. Everyone around him including Trisha and his daughters believe him to be telling the truth. Many around him think this is out of character and something he would never do. Everyone around him is shocked.”
“All Garth cares about is his family and his fans,” the source added. “He is a family man and is very down to earth.”
Brooks, 62, shares his three adult children with ex-wife Sandy Mahl, whom he divorced in 2001. He married Yearwood, 60, in 2005.
Brooks was named in an October 3 complaint obtained by Us, in which an anonymous woman claimed that the country singer raped her in 2019 while she was working as a hairstylist for him. (CNN was first to break the news.)
In the lawsuit, the hairstylist (referred to as Jane Roe) alleged that she started working for Brooks in 2017 after frequently handling the glam for wife Yearwood. Roe also claimed that Brooks sent her sexually explicit text messages, repeatedly exposed his genitals in her presence and made “repeated remarks” about “having a threesome” with Yearwood.
Ahead of Roe’s lawsuit, Brooks anonymously filed a complaint to try to bar her from repeating the allegations and he vehemently denied her account.
“Defendant’s allegations are not true,” Brooks’ filing read. “Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”
Brooks himself spoke out on October 3 publicly regarding the accusations. “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,” he said, in a statement to Us Weekly.
“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 — ugly acts no human should ever do to another,” he continued. “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 play music tonight,” he added. “I want to continue our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart these wonderful things are in question now. I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”
With reporting by Amanda Williams.