Antonio Brown's Trainer Britney Taylor Accuses Him Of Violent Sexual Assault
She says he forced her down onto a bed and violently assaulted her.
Getty Antonio Brown has had a bumpy ride into the 2019-2020 NFL season but it could be coming to an end. The wide receiver spent the offseason feuding with management at the Oakland Raiders, causing so much trouble that the team finally released him as a free agent. He signed with the New England Patriots the next day. But he didn't even have time to unpack in Foxboro before another incident from his past came back to haunt him.
Britney Taylor, a former Division IA gymnast who is now a coach and trainer, is suing Brown in federal court on the ground that he sexually assaulted her multiple times while she was employed as his trainer. Brown denies the allegations but the Patriots and the NFL are planning to investigate. The NFL is currently considering putting Brown on paid leave and making him ineligible for play.
Who is Britney Taylor? Read on for all the details.
1. College-level gymnast
Taylor started training as a gymnast when she was three-years-old and by the time she finished high school was good enough that she had her pick of 14 college scholarships, according to The Heavy. She ultimately decided to go to Central Michigan University and spent the first two years of her career there. She was a gymnastics coach and choreographer on the side while she was there. After her second year, she transferred to Louisiana State University where she excelled at her sport. According to the team website, Britney “Led the team with a 9.90 on beam in the NCAA Super Six Finals (4/20), marking the third-best beam score at the NCAA Championships in LSU history...Narrowly missed All-SEC honors on beam after she scored a career-high 9.925 at the SEC Championship (3/23)...Saw action on vault, beam and floor during the season, competing eight times on vault, seven times on beam and three on floor...Shattered her career highs on vault, beam and floor by posting a 9.925 on vault at Auburn (2/22), a 9.925 on beam at the SEC Championship and a 9.85 on floor at Auburn and at North Carolina State (3/15).”
2. Friendship with Antonio Brown
While Britney was at Central Michigan, she was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes group on campus. She and Brown were paired together for Bible study and struck up a friendship. They remained in touch after she transferred and she was still in contact with him when he started playing for the NFL back in 2010. In her current lawsuit, she says their relationship was always strictly friendship. However, he did proposition her in 2013. "In approximately 2013, Ms. Taylor’s senior year at LSU, Brown sent her a message on social media, asking for a picture of her," court documents say. "Ms. Taylor sent him a picture of her face. Dissatisfied, Brown asked for a more revealing one. Ms. Taylor refused, reminding Brown that they were just friends.” After that exchange, the two stopped communicating for a number of years.
3. Private personal trainer
By 2017, Britney had opened a gymnastics studio in Tennessee. Brown reached out to her via Facebook to see how she was and to discuss her business. When Brown learned that Britney was a professional trainer, he hired her to help him with some flexibility training he needed to improve his performance on the field. “As a result, the two agreed that Ms. Taylor would provide physical training services to Brown," the lawsuit alleges. "The arrangement between them included Ms. Taylor flying to locations in Pittsburgh and Florida where Brown had homes and where he trained."
4. Two incidents of assault
In 2017, while working as Brown's trainer, Britney was staying in one of his homes in Pittsburgh at Brown's request. He did not arrange a hotel for her. When she as in the bathroom of that home, he walked in with his penis exposed. The lawsuit says she covered her eyes and left the room. He then grabbed her and kissed her without her consent until she pushed him away.
Later that same year, on another training visit, the two were watching a Bible study video together as they had in college. Britney was watching on her tablet while Brown stood behind her. Without her knowledge, he started masturbating and ejaculated on her back without her prior knowledge or consent. She objected and he said, "Oh B...you know I'm sorry." He then left the room.
Britney called her mother who advised her to leave after the incident. She let Brown's personal chef know about the incident and that she was no longer going to be working with Brown afterward.
5. Forcible rape accusation
In 2018, Brown once again reached out to Britney to ask her to train him. According to the lawsuit, much of his other staff had quit, and, as we noted here, he was on the outs with his long term girlfriend Chelsie Kyriss. Despite her misgivings, Britney came to an agreement with Brown to provide training services if he would stop flirting with her and she would have her own lodgings. Brown agreed.
On May 20, Britney joined Brown and some friends for a night out and ended up driving Brown and another NFL player home, according to court documents. She stopped in at Brown's house while dropping them off so she could use the restroom. While inside, Brown asked to speak to her and led her to a bedroom. There, he pushed her facedown on the bed as she yelled for him to stop. He said "You know you want this," before he "proceeded with great violence to penetrate her." Britney says she cried the whole time.
She spoke briefly to Brown the next morning before she returned to her home in Memphis and he complained about the night before. "You made me feel like a rapist," he told her.
6. Email exchanges about the incidents
In the months that followed Britney sought help from her family and church while she decided what she was going to do in the aftermath of the assault. There is evidence of contact between her and Brown in the form of emails, where he acknowledges the events she describes, though he characterizes them as consensual. In a September 7 Instagram post, he indicated that he was being extorted by a former trainer he and worked with and claimed she's only after money.
7. Brown denies allegations
In a statement issued by his attorney, Brown says he is innocent of the charges and this is all just a cash grab on Britney's part. "Mr. Brown denies each and every allegation in the lawsuit. He will pursue all legal remedies to not only clear his name, but to also protect other professional athletes against false accusations, " the statement says. "At that time, Mr. Brown was asked to invest $1.6 million dollars in the accuser’s business project. Mr. Brown was not informed by his accuser that she had just been levied with a $30,000 IRS tax lien or that $300,000 of the $1.6 million so called “investment” was to be used to purchase property already owned by the accuser and her mother. When Mr. Brown refused to make the $1.6 million “investment,” the accuser supposedly cut off communications with Mr. Brown."
The statement goes on to say, "However, in 2018, the accuser resurfaced and offered to travel to Pennsylvania and South Florida to train Mr. Brown for the upcoming season. Thereafter, the accuser engaged Mr. Brown in a consensual personal relationship. Any sexual interaction with Mr. Brown was entirely consensual."
Brown says he intends to countersue.
Brown's team will investigate.
8. The NFL is not amused
After months of Brown's antics in Oakland that most analysts think were just attempts to wiggle out of a contract, the NFL might not be inclined to be lenient to Brown. The Patriots issued a statement that says: "We take these allegations very seriously. Under no circumstance does this organization condone sexual violence or assault. The league has informed us that they will be investigating. We will have no further comment while that investigation takes place," reports the New York Times. The NFL has not made a statement about the case but NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the Washington Post, “We are reviewing the matter.” Sources close to the investigation tell the Post that the NFL is considering putting Brown on the Commissioner's Exempt list, which would bar him from playing until he meets conditions set by the league.
The NFL plans to meet with Britney Taylor next week. The case is being handled in civil court and no police reports were ever filed.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.