Country Singer Jimmie Allen Emotionally Reveals He Contemplated Suicide After Sexual Assault Lawsuit
Jimmie Allen is getting honest about what he went through after being accused of sexual assault by his former manager.
The country singer, 38, sat down with Kathie Lee Gifford for an interview released on his YouTube channel on Tuesday, April 23, where he admitted he contemplated suicide after the former employee sued him.
The woman, who was identified as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit in May 2023 against Allen, claiming he raped, sexually abused and harassed her during the 18 months she worked for him. In response, the "Up" artist's attorney stated that although the two had a "sexual relationship," Allen believed it was consensual.
The singer — who's estranged wife, Alexis Gale, was pregnant with their third child at the time of the affair — told the former television host, 70, he was "searching for instant gratification from women" during his tryst with his ex-staffer.
"She was my day-to-day manager, so she was with me everywhere I went. We'd hook up then we'd stop, and then when we'd stop... she'd get all sad and upset, so to make her feel better, we'd start hooking up again," he said.
Allen emphasized he "absolutely [did] not" want a serious relationship with her but acknowledged he "should've seen that she was into me. For me, even though it was just physical, I think for her it was getting emotional."
"It's someone who'd become a friend," he continued. "... I knew it was wrong because I'm in a relationship. That's what I'm willing to take accountability for... For the longest time, in my head, I remember thinking, 'As long as I'm providing for my wife and my children, I have the freedom to do whatever I want.' That's not the right mentality. It's wrong. I made a commitment. I should've either stuck with it or ended it."
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Amid his crippling shame, Allen's main priority became his family. "I was sitting there and I literally felt like the whole world had just collapsed. Because the first thing my brain goes to is not the career, it's, 'How am I going to provide for my kids?'" he questioned.
"It hit me. My life insurance covers suicide," admitted Allen, who shares his son Cohen Ace James, as well as daughters Zara James and Naomi Bettie, with Gale in addition to an unnamed son from a previous relationship. "I don't feel that way now, but in that moment, when you feel like you have nothing in the midst of a society where it's no longer innocent until proven guilty... [people think] she said this so it must be true."
Allen recalled how he "moved everything over to one phone. All my evidence, pictures, text messages, videos, everything... [and then] I was putting bullets in my gun clip."
Before he could make any sudden decision, he received a message from a pal. "My friend Chuck texted me... He said, 'Ending it isn't the answer.' When I read those words ... I just stopped," he remembered.
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"I remember I called one of my buddies... He came up. I gave him my gun. I said, 'Take it. I don't need it.' My mom flew in, and then I started receiving phone calls from different artists checking in on me, saying they love me, they care about me, they know who I am. Then I started receiving calls from people I didn't even expect. Some of the biggest actors in Hollywood that I've been fans of for years — I've never met —somehow got my phone number and called me," he told Gifford.