The female employee claimed that Brooks raped her in a hotel room in 2019, and subjected her to unwanted sexual conduct, including exposing himself on several occasions and “groping her breasts”. The woman, identified as Jane Roe in the lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, claimed the trauma from the alleged sexual assault became “so unbearable” that she contemplated taking her own life. Two-time Grammy winner Brooks has since said the lawsuit is an attempt at extortion for “millions of dollars”.

In a statement to the PA news agency, Brooks said: “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. “Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money.

In my mind, that means I am admitting to behaviour I am incapable of – ugly acts no human should ever do to another.” In the lawsuit, the woman claims she was forced to keep working for Brooks because of financial hardship, which he knew about and allegedly exploited. Brooks filed an anonymous lawsuit last month in Mississippi in which he asked a judge to stop the publication of “false allegations of sexual misconduct” by the woman, claiming it would “irreparably harm (his) reputation, family, career and livelihood”.

In a statement to PA, he added: “I want to play music tonight. I want to contin.