Garth Brooks gushed over his and Trisha Yearwood’s marriage just days before he was accused of raping and battering a woman who allegedly worked as his hairstylist and makeup artist.
“My favorite thing about getting to be Ms. Yearwood’s partner is the good times, but also going through the bad times together because that makes you one,” the country crooner, 62, told People magazine in an interview published Tuesday.
“We have a love that’s going to last beyond this lifetime. I found her in the last life. I’ll find her in the next one.”
Yearwood, 60, also told People that they are “best friends” and “actually enjoy each other’s company” during the same interview.
The couple tied the knot in December 2005 after getting engaged earlier that year. They have no kids together, but Brooks has three daughters from his first marriage to Sandy Mahl.
On Thursday, a woman who referred to herself as “Jane Roe” filed a lawsuit accusing the “Friends in Low Places” hitmaker of sexual assault and battery in 2019 when she worked for him.
In the court documents, which were submitted in California, Roe claimed Brooks raped her in a hotel room during a work trip to Los Angeles in 2019 and then continued to share his sexual desires with her, which included “having a threesome” with Yearwood.
She also accused him of routinely exposing his genitals to her, changing his clothing in front of her, openly fantasizing about sex with her and sending unwanted sexually charged text messages to her.
Brooks vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to Page Six on Thursday and said an unnamed person had been threatening him for two months while attempting to extort “millions of dollars” from him.
“It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face,” he noted. “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 also informed Page Six that he filed a complaint in court to stop the allegations from surfacing.
In his complaint, which Page Six also obtained, he wrote that the defendant “is well aware … of the
substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do” to his “well-earned
reputation as a decent and caring person” as well as his family and career.
“Indeed, such knowledge no doubt explains why Defendant threatened to file suit through a ‘confidential’ demand letter rather than simply filing suit to redress her alleged (but untrue) injuries,” he added.
Brooks returned to the stage in Las Vegas Thursday night and expressed gratitude for his fans via an Instagram post after his show.
“If there was ever a night that I really needed this, TONIGHT was that night,” he captioned a photo of him performing for a sea of fans.
“Thank you for my life!!!!!”
