Who Are The Women, Including Evan Rachel Wood, Who Have Accused Marilyn Manson Of Abuse?
Evan Rachel Wood accuses Marilyn Manson of abuse in “Phoenix Rising,” but she is not the only one who has accused the musician of abuse.
Manson has strongly denied all accusations and has maintained that his relationships have been consensual.
In the two-part HBO documentary, Wood, now 34, details the accusations she made against Manson last year. She has claimed that he abused and sexually assaulted her during their years-long relationship in the aughts.
Over the past few years, Wood has become an activist, speaking out against domestic violence issues, but she didn't publicly accuse Manson until 2021. She testified in 2018 before a House Judiciary subcommittee about her alleged experiences as a rape and domestic violence survivor in an effort to get the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act passed nationwide. Manson has vehemently denied all her allegations, which he has called "horrible distortions of reality." "My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth," Manson said.
And Wood is not alone in her accusations.
After Wood broke her silence, Manson's ex Ashley Morgan Smithline, along with Manson's former assistant Ashley Walters, and actress Esmé Bianco filed lawsuits alleging abuse.
Sarah McNeilly, a model, claimed in Rolling Stone that Manson isolated her from her friends and family. She said he would berate her verbally and assault her physically. In a statement to Rolling Stone, Manson’s attorney denied the claims and described them as “part of a coordinated attack.”
Walters filed a lawsuit against the entertainer last year claiming psychological and sexual abuse, accusing the “Beautiful People” singer in her legal filing of sexual assault, battery, and harassment.
In a February 2021 Instagram post, echoing the assertions in her lawsuit, she claimed she met Manson in 2010 and that she soon "became a victim of his psychological abuse."
She alleged both on Instagram and in her civil complaint that Manson, who she said viewed her as his property, offered her up for sexual encounters to please potential collaborators or friends.
Manson has denied the allegations contained in Walter’s lawsuit. According to reporting from NBC News, the judge in the case earlier this year ordered Walters to amend her complaint in “response to a request from Manson’s attorneys to dismiss the case based on the statute of limitations.” That amended complaint must be made by March 11, 2022.
"Game of Thrones" actor Esme Bianco also filed a lawsuit in 2021 accusing the singer of “constant abuse." She claimed that in 2009, Manson flew her out to Los Angeles under the premise of her starring in a music video. But, instead, according to Bianco’s legal filing, he kept her disoriented with drugs, alcohol, and starvation for four days. She went on to claim that he exposed her to violent outbursts, and that he beat her with a whip and gave her electric shocks.
In court records, Manson responded by arguing that Bianco’s case is barred by the statute of limitations and characterizing her allegations as “untrue, meritless, and a key component of a coordinated attack by multiple plaintiffs, who are cynically and dishonestly seeking to monetize and exploit the #MeToo movement.” However, in October 2022, a judge denied Manson’s motion to dismiss Bianco’s case.
Just days after Wood's allegations, stylist Love Bailey claimed that Manson put a gun to her head in 2011, when she was just 21, as they were prepping for a photoshoot, the Los Angeles Times reported. Manson has contested Bailey’s allegations, with a representative telling the newspaper he “does not recall witnessing any of the events described by Bailey.”
In 2018, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to pursue sexual assault charges against Manson regarding an allegation dating back to 2001, citing the statute of limitations and an “absence of corroboration.”
Manson has denied all allegations of abuse and has brought a lawsuit against Wood, accusing her of conspiring to cast him as a rapist and abuser, characterizations Manson describes in his civil complaint as “malicious falsehoods.”
