CW: Sexual assault, abuse, and manipulation
Actress and activist Evan Rachel Wood and four other women have accused goth-shock rockstar Marilyn Manson of abuse.
Update: Manson’s record label, Loma Vista Recordings, have cut ties with the artist in light of the allegations.
33-year-old Wood, who starred in sci-fi series Westworld, identified her abuser as “Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” in an Instagram post on Monday. The actress had previously spoken out about her unnamed abuser back in 2018.
“He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail,” Wood wrote about the Grammy-nominated artist.
“I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent,” the actress wrote.
Manson gained fame in the 1990s with his homage to Charles Manson, his ‘gothic scene makeup’, and his controversial public image: which included his persona as the self-proclaimed “antichrist superstar.”
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Wood and 52-year-old Manson, who is 19 years her senior, began dating in 2007 after ending her marriage to Billy Elliot actor Jamie Bell. The two later got engaged in 2010 but split up seven months later.
Wood also reposted allegations of rape, psychological and sexual abuse, druggings, violence, and death threats from at least four other women.
proud of Evan Rachel Wood and other women who came forward about Marilyn Manson. it’s disgusting that we STILL require multiple survivors in order to believe women, esp when they have receipts. survivors truly gain nothing by coming forward so can we just believe them already?thx
— Lane Moore (@hellolanemoore) February 1, 2021
Ashley Walters, a former personal assistant of Manson, accused the singer of “mind control, torture tactics, i.e. using different sound frequencies that would shift your mood or make you nauseous, and spy devices to gather information for blackmailing,” according to SBS News.
Another woman, Gabriella (known on Instagram as SourGirrrl) said that she was 22 when she met Manson, who allegedly tied her up, raped her, spread naked photos of her without consent, and threatened to kill her.
“It has taken me five years to speak out and say that I was in an abusive relationship,” she wrote on Instagram. “I have been diagnosed with PTSD and still suffer from nightmares.”
Sarah McNeilly, an American model, also claimed on Instagram that Manson “threatened to bash [her] face in with a baseball bat” and locked her in rooms when she was “bad”.
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Another model, Ashley Lindsay Morgan, said she was physically abused and prevented from eating or sleeping when she was with Manson.
It seems these allegations have been brewing for a while, after a police report was filed against Manson in May 2018 – shortly after the Harvey Weinstein scandal – citing unspecified sex crimes that allegedly took place in 2011. However, the Los Angeles District’s Attorney office announced in August 2018 that it would not pursue that case because of a lack of corroborating evidence.
It’s amazing that Marilyn Manson could still find a way to disgrace the name Manson.
— Ben Schwartz (@benschwartz_) February 1, 2021
In 2018, Wood recounted her shocking experiences of abuse in the US Congress in an attempt to implement the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act across all 50 states.
“My experience with domestic violence was this: toxic mental, physical and sexual abuse which started slow but escalated over time, including threats against my life, severe gaslighting and brainwashing, waking up to the man that claimed to love me raping what he believed to be my unconscious body,” she said.