Evan Rachel Wood says ex Marilyn Manson ‘horrifically’ abused her for years
Evan Rachel Wood #EvanRachelWood
In 2018, Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood spoke before a House Judiciary Committee in support of the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights. She described the “toxic mental, physical, and sexual abuse” she faced by an ex but did not name him at the time. On Monday, she broke her silence.
Wood said in a statement shared on Instagram that her ex-fiancé Marilyn Manson “horrifically” abused her for years. Multiple other women came forward with similar accounts.
A representative for Manson did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment, but he has consistently denied such allegations in the past. Wood’s representative had no further comment beyond the Instagram post.
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” Wood, 33, said. “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. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many individuals that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.”
Wood met Manson at the age of 18 when he was 36 and married to Dita Von Teese, according to a 2016 Rolling Stone profile. After multiple breakups, they were engaged in 2010 for several months before eventually ending things.
Four other women also came forward to detail abuse allegations, one of whom has since deleted her original Instagram post. Manson was previously accused of abuse in the past, but has denied the claims.
“I was emotionally abused, terrorized and scarred,” model Sarah McNeilly said in her own statement. “I was locked in rooms when I was ‘bad’, sometimes forced to listen to him entertaining other women. Kept away from certain friends or if I didn’t he would threaten to come after them. I was told stories of others who tried to tell their story and their pets ended up dead.” McNeilly further claimed Manson gaslit her from staying away from other men. In a more violent moment, she was “thrown up against a wall and he threatened to bash my face in with the baseball bat he was holding, for trying to get him to pick out a pair of pants prior to a music video.” She stated she witnessed him “recording others unknowingly in order to have blackmail on most anyone who entered ‘the meat locker’ (as I called his home, it was kept a chilld 62 degrees always).” McNeilly did not specify when the alleged abusive acts occurred.
Ashley Lindsay Morgan, who identifies as a former model and current med student, wrote how in 2009 and 2010 she was “given rules and got ‘in trouble’ for any behavior he didn’t approve of. There was abuse, sexual violence, phyiscal violence, and coercion. I still feel the affects everyday. I have night terrors, PTSD, anxiety, and mostly crippling OCD.” She also claimed that, while she was abroad in Asia, he asked her to acquire Nazi memorabilia, which included “swastika throwing stars, knives, rings.”
Another woman, who goes by Gabriella on Instagram, said he once “demanded” they make a “blood pact” in a hotel room, which entailed breaking a wine glass and cutting both of their hands. While joining him on tour in Europe, Gabriella said “he would tie me up for the first of many times and rape me. I sobbed on the floor in the hotel room and when I looked at him, he was smiling. He told me he knew that’s how I loved him because of my reaction. He took naked photos of me without permission while I was sleeping and tied up, and sent them to his friends.” She also detailed how he forced her to take drugs before one of his concerts in London. “I woke up on the tour bus with paramedics shining a flashlight, slapping my face, while trying to make me throw up. The paramedics wanted to take me to the hospital and he refused. Similar to other accusations, Gabriella alleged she was locked in a “bad girls room” as he withheld her passport and belongings.
In May 2018, a police report citing unspecified sex crimes was filed against Manson amid the #MeToo reckoning. The Los Angeles District’s Attorney office announced months later that it would not pursue the case due to the passage of time and a lack of corroborating evidence. “The allegations made to the police were and are categorically denied by Mr. Warner and are either completely delusional or part of a calculated attempt to generate publicity for the claimant’s business of selling Manson memorabilia,” Manson’s lawyer at the time, Howard E. King, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
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