Country music star Jimmie Allen is being accused of rape and repeated sexual abuse and harassment by his former manager.
Variety reports that in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Tennessee federal court, the ex-manager accuses Allen of subjecting her to a “torrential cycle” of abuse and harassment during an 18-month period between 2020 and 2022. Variety details in depth the unnamed woman’s story, including allegations that Allen raped her while choking her, even as she said “no” and tried to push him away during repeated sexual interactions.
During one trip to Los Angeles for Allen’s 2021 appearance on Ellen, he allegedly groped her breasts on the plane, pushed his erect penis against her body, and masturbated in front of her. In the car after the taping, she says he forced his fingers into her vagina.
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Allen, 37, also allegedly raped the same woman during a different work trip to Los Angeles in 2021 while he was appearing as a celebrity guest on American Idol. The woman—who is identified as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit—says she woke up naked in her hotel bed in severe pain and memory fog, and that Allen was laying next to her and insisted she take a Plan B pill. Per Variety, “she realized she had lost her virginity through no choice of her own and felt she had betrayed her faith.”
She told the outlet, “I was disconnected from my body, feeling a sense of panic… he held me in place. At that point, any physical will was just out the door. I was pretty much paralyzed.”
During another business trip to Hawaii in 2022, this time for another American Idol taping, the woman was in such pain from months of repeated alleged sexual abuse that she “collapsed on set… and was rushed to the emergency room,” per the lawsuit.
In addition to suing Allen, the woman is also suing her former employer, Wide Open Music, and its founder, Ash Bowers. She says that after she told Bowers about allegedly being raped and abused by Allen, Wide Open Music dropped Allen as a client in addition to terminating her from the company.
Allen responded to the allegations in a statement to Variety, in which he confirmed a sexual relationship that he called “consensual.” He said: “It is deeply troubling and hurtful that someone I counted as one of my closest friends, colleagues and confidants would make allegations that have no truth to them whatsoever.”
His statement continued: “I acknowledge that we had a sexual relationship—one that lasted for nearly two years. During that time, she never once accused me of any wrongdoing, and she spoke of our relationship and friendship as being something she wanted to continue indefinitely. Only after things ended between us, did she hire a lawyer to reach out and ask for money, which leads me to question her motives. The simple fact is, her accusations are not only false, but also extremely damaging. I’ve worked incredibly hard to build my career, and I intend to mount a vigorous defense to her claims and take all other legal action necessary to protect my reputation.”
Allen and his wife Alexis Gale—who is pregnant with the couple’s third child—announced last month that they are splitting up after four years together.
