Jimmie Allen Apologizes to Wife for 'Affair' After Rape Accusations
Jimmie Allen addressed his wife, who is divorcing him, in an Instagram post Thursday afternoon, publicly apologizing to her for what he continues to characterize as a consensual “affair,” and what a woman who used to be one of his managers claims in a lawsuit was sexual assault and rape.
“I want to publicly apologize to my wife, Alexis, for humiliating her with my affair,” Allen writes in the post. “I’m embarrassed that my choices have brought shame on her. That’s something she did not deserve at all. I also want to apologize to my children for being a poor example of a man and a father.” (Allen’s wife is pregnant with their third child; he also has a child from a previous relationship.)
The country star does not mention or allude to the seriousness of the allegations in the lawsuit against him or in an investigative piece published by Variety. He uses his latest statement to characterize his involvement with the Jane Doe in question as “temptations” he was not able to “withstand” as “a victim of my weaknesses.” He also contends “this business” put him in the position of succumbing to weakness.
“This business takes so much from you,” Allen wrote. “It’s full of temptations that can cripple you and ruin everything you’ve built. I’m ashamed that I wasn’t strong enough to withstand them. I will no longer be a victim of my weaknesses.”
In conclusion, Allen said, “I challenge everyone to seek help when they need it. Do not be afraid of your weakness, surround yourself with people that WILL help you. Be Blessed.” He signed off on the message with emoji of praying hands and a clenched fist.
It marked the first substantial public statement Allen had made since he released a statement to Variety just before Jane Doe’s lawsuit went public, at which time he said: “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….”
In response to that statement, Jane Doe’s attorneys denied that she ever asked Allen’s camp for money prior to filing the suit.
In a vaguer, earlier statement this week, Allen had taken to his Instagram Story on Wednesday to post messages with religious overtones. “We Gonna Be Alright. This Too Shall Pass,” Allen wrote, followed by a screenshot of a song by a Christian group, For King & Country, over which he wrote the message “God only knows … He knows!”
(The phrase “We Gonna Be Alright” is a reference to his new single, “Be Alright.” It drops to No. 59 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in this, its third charting week, after peaking at No. 57 last week.)
Reaction against Allen has been swift from those who have most recently been working with him. He was suspended from his record company, BBR, his agency, UTA, and his current management company, The Familie. His publicity firm, Full Coverage Communications, terminated business with the star. And the Country Music Association removed him from the bill for the upcoming CMA Music Festival. Allen no longer has any tour dates listed on his website, although Ticketmaster is still selling tickets for a handful of upcoming Allen shows, while others are marked as canceled.
In the civil lawsuit against Allen, his former manager-producer Ash Bowers and Wide Open Music, filed May 11 with the United States District Court of Tennessee, Allen was sued for sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, sex trafficking and emotional distress. Bowers and Wide Open Music were additionally sued for gross negligence and participating in a venture engaged in sex trafficking, among other counts.
Jane Doe was a young woman who had recently graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, with a brief stopover at UTA’s Nashville office, when she went to work for Allen’s then-management, Wide Open Music, becoming the star’s day-to-day manager. Doe says she was fired by Bowers in retaliation after bringing an alleged pattern of sexual assault that she says went on for a year and a half to the manager’s attention. Bowers says she was let go because there was no longer a role for her after the company quietly severed ties with Allen after she discussed what was happening with the manager last fall.
In her lawsuit, Jane Doe alleges that Allen raped her while choking her, sexually abused her at red lights when she drove him to and from business events and looked at porn on her work computer. She also says she lost her virginity to the artist after unaccountably blacking out while they were together. Jane Doe told Variety that she said “no” and tried to push Allen away during many sexual interactions, and after she had been allegedly coerced and forced to have sexual intercourse with Allen, she would regularly bleed, cry uncontrollably and run to the bathroom to vomit. Despite these signs, she says Allen failed to acknowledge her physical and emotional pain.
Allen videotaped multiple sexual encounters “to blackmail her to stay silent,” according to the suit, while she says he insisted Jane Doe surrender her own phone and other electronics when they were together.
“I have to tell this story because there’s no way I would let my daughter near a situation like this,” the plaintiff told Variety. “My life has been turned inside out because of Jimmie Allen.”
Allen’s wife, Alexis, has been mostly quiet since they jointly announced their impending divorce. Just prior to the lawsuit being filed, she posted a couple of statements, asking to be left in peace: “Continue the chaos while I heal in peace,” she wrote, and: “My Instagram isn’t a help line so please stop messaging me about any third parties.”
On Thursday, though, screenshots emerged reported to be of a statement Alexis posted and then deleted on her Instagram, in which she seems to be taking aim both at her husband and his accuser, or accusers. It read: “Imagine being a woman who is so f***** up mentally emotionally and pursues a man who is married with 3 children & a pregnant wife. Imagine. I could never.” The statement added, “Y’all can kiss my ass with the ‘estranged wife’ narrative. I really wish I was only talking about one female.”
Source: Variety
