Evan Rachel Wood has accused singer Marilyn Manson of abuse in an Instagram post shared on her account this morning. Having opened up about her experience of domestic abuse in 2019, this is the first time she has named Marilyn as the alleged abuser.
‘The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,’ she posted in a statement on Instagram. ‘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 industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.’
Marilyn is yet to publicly comment on Evan's statement, his team have denied similar allegations in the past when asked about Evan's previous testimonies in interviews.
Evan and Marilyn’s relationship became public in January 2007 when Evan was just 19 and he was 38. Although the pair are reported to have met years prior after Marilyn asked Evan to be in his 2005 horror film, Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. They were engaged by 2010 but broke up seven months later.
In 2019, Evan spoke about experiencing domestic abuse as part of the #IAmNotOk movement, admitting that she was still searching ‘to feel safe’ after being in an abusive relationship. ‘Two years into my abusive relationship I resorted to self-harm,’ she said on Instagram at the time. ‘When my abuser would threaten or attack me, I cut my wrist as a way to disarm him. It only made the abuse stop temporarily. At that point I was desperate to stop the relentless abuse and I was too terrified to leave.’
In one of many posts on Instagram two years ago, she referenced a photoshoot for Elle magazine in 2010, the year she was engaged to Marilyn, as an example of how someone who appears healthy and happy posing for a camera can actually be ‘severely depressed’ inside.
‘The day of this photoshoot, I was so weakened by an abusive relationship,’ she wrote in a caption of the image. ‘I was emaciated, severely depressed, and could barely stand. I fell into a pool of tears and was sent home for the day.’
Wood also spoke about her experience of being in an abusive relationship for years with a man she met in her late teens during testimony given to the California Senate Public Safety Committee in April 2019.
With her decision to name Marilyn in her latest post today, at least four other women have since come forward with the own allegations against him including sexual assault, psychological abuse and other forms of abuse including violence, coercion and intimidation.
While Marilyn has not spoken publicly on Evan’s statement as of yet, his team has previously denied similar allegations when asked about the 2019 posts made by Evan. In an interview with Metal Hammer released last year, the publication asked him about Wood’s testimony and he thus ended the interview abruptly. They then sent multiple requests for further comment on the matter and 10 more questions, including a reference to another interview he did with Spin magazine in 2009 where he stated of Evan: ‘I have fantasies every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer.’
‘We have advised our client not to comment further on your article,’ his PR team replied to Metal Hammer. ‘Personal testimony is just that, and we think it’s inappropriate to comment on that… The comments in Spin where Manson had a fantasy of using a sledgehammer on Evan and he cut himself 158 times was obviously a theatrical rock star interview promoting a new record, and not a factual account.’
Since posting on Instagram, Evan has since shared numerous screenshots of further allegations by other women on Instagram plus messages allegedly sent to his former co-workers about Evan.
Grazia have reached out to Marilyn’s representative for comment.
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