A woman is suing Garth Brooks for alleged sexual battery and assault, claiming that Trisha Yearwood may have overheard some of his explicit conversations. According to the lawsuit, this woman, identified as Jane Roe, worked as a hairstylist for Garth and Trisha for many years.
She began working with Trisha in 1999 and Garth in 2017. Jane said Garth started giving her more work after learning about her financial struggles. She accused him of sexually harassing her multiple times, and claimed he raped her in 2019, which Garth has denied.
Jane also said that Garth sent her sexually explicit messages and pressured her to engage in sexting.
Jane claims that after Garth Brooks allegedly assaulted her, he started talking about his sexual fantasies involving her more often.
She said Garth would grope her while she was doing his hair and makeup, and would brag about having sex with different women in hotel rooms. He also allegedly talked about wanting a threesome with his wife, Trisha Yearwood, suggesting Jane be involved. Jane believes Trisha overheard this at least once.
In May 2020, Jane said Garth made an inappropriate comment about creating a shampoo bottle that could double as a sex toy while talking with his manager, with both Jane and Trisha present. When Jane refused to join the conversation, Garth allegedly got angry and slammed his fists on the counter.
Jane also accused Garth of exposing himself to her and forcing her to touch him, and claimed he raped her in a hotel room in 2019, using his larger size to overpower her.
She is suing Garth for unspecified damages, and he responded to the lawsuit in a statement on October 3.
Garth Brooks responded to the accusations by saying, “For the past two months, I’ve been harassed with threats, lies, and stories about what could happen to me if I didn’t pay millions of dollars. It feels like having a gun pointed at me. Whether it’s a lot or a little, hush money is still hush money.”
He added, “Paying it would mean I’m admitting to things I could never do—terrible acts no one should ever do to another person. We sued this person almost a month ago to stand up against blackmail and protect my reputation. We kept it anonymous to protect the families involved.”
Mary Lou Retton Has Pneumonia and ‘Is Fighting for Her Life,’ Daughter Says
The gymnastics champion sprang to stardom at the 1984 Olympics, where she became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the all-around competition. Her family is raising money online, saying she lacks health insurance.
May Lou Retton at the 1984 Olympics, where she won five medals.
Mary Lou Retton, who became one of the most popular athletes in the country after winning the all-around women’s gymnastics competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, has pneumonia and is “fighting for her life” in the intensive care unit, her daughter said in a statement this week.
Retton’s daughter McKenna Lane Kelley said on Instagram that her mother “is not able to breathe on her own” and that she had been in the intensive care unit for more than a week.
Kelley asked for donations to help pay for her mother’s hospital bills, saying her mother lacked health insurance. By Wednesday, she had raised more than $260,000 online from more than 4,600 donors.
She did not share more specific information about her mother’s condition, though she said that her pneumonia was “a very rare form.” It was not clear what hospital Retton was in.
Kelley, who was a gymnast at Louisiana State University, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, another daughter, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, released a video on Instagram thanking people for “all the love and support that you’ve given to my mom.”
“She’s still fighting,” Schrepfer said. “It’s going to be a day-by-day process, and we hope that you guys will respect her boundaries, as we want to keep the details between her and our family right now. She has been treated with the best of the best professionals here, and it has been such a blessing to have their hands on her.”
At the 1984 Olympics, Retton became the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal or any individual Olympic medal in gymnastics. Going into the final rotation of the competition, she was five-hundredths of a point behind Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo, and the only way she could beat Szabo was to score a perfect 10 on vault.
Retton scored a perfect 10.
She won five medals in Los Angeles, including two silvers, for team and vault, and two bronzes, for uneven bars and floor exercise.
Though there was an asterisk by Retton’s victory in the history books — the Soviet Union, which was the most dominant force in women’s gymnastics at the time, boycotted the 1984 Games — it nonetheless made her a sports hero in the United States. In addition to earning her the traditional trappings of Olympic gold, like appearing on a Wheaties box, she was widely viewed as an inspiration to a new generation of American girls entering gymnastics.
Even as the American gymnastics program grew and the country won more medals, including the team gold in 1996, Retton’s prominence remained: For 20 years, Retton, now 55, was the only American woman to win the all-around title, until Carly Patterson became the second in 2004.
Retton was born in Fairmont, W.Va., and got her start early, like many top gymnasts. By the time Retton was 7 years old, she was training in gymnastics full-time.
Retton’s talent had been apparent from the start, but a big break came at an Olympics elimination tournament in Reno, Nev., in 1982, where she impressed Bela Karolyi, who would go on to coach her in the 1984 Olympics.
“I immediately recognized the tremendous physical potential of this little kid,” Karolyi said in a March 1984 interview.
Retton appeared in a number of films and TV shows in the late 1980s and 1990s, including the comedy film “Scrooged.”
After her athletic career, Retton became a motivational speaker to promote the benefits of proper nutrition and regular exercise.
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