Actor Evan Rachel Wood has opened up about allegedly being groomed, manipulated and abused by rockstar Marilyn Manson, and since then even more women have come forward.
In a short but powerful Instagram post on Monday night, the 33-year-old Westworld star claimed Manson, now 52, had subjected her to years of abuse.
“He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years,” she alleged.
“I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander or blackmail.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKvmsUmF1ho/
“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.”
Manson’s relationship with Wood had occasionally been questioned over the years.
In a 2009 interview with Spin magazine, Marilyn Manson said he had “fantasies every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer”, although years later a spokesperson for him said it was “obviously a theatrical rock star interview”.
Meanwhile, Wood has long been an advocate for abuse survivors, including sharing her own experiences of sexual and emotional abuse. However, she never named the alleged perpetrator until now.
In 2018 she testified before a US House Committee to get the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights passed in every state. She has also spearheaded the Phoenix Act, which makes it easier for domestic abuse survivors to seek justice.
Following her initial post, Wood has also shared a bunch of similar allegations from other alleged victims on her Instagram story, who each made their own posts.
One alleged survivor, Ashley Walters, said Manson reached out to her on social media over 10 years ago and very quickly started showering her with affection.
“I didn’t realise he was gathering information that he’d later use against me,” she alleged.
“I soon became a victim of his psychological abuse – he was very skilled at gaslighting his inner circle.
“I’d witness him inflict this psychological abuse on everyone he employed, everyone he dated.”
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She claimed he would be violent towards her, offer her up for sexual encounters with potential collaborators, and even prevent her from sleeping.
“Horrifying, deranged behaviour and insane scenarios became normalised,” she alleged.
“He was extremely interested in mind control, torture tactics (i.e. different sound frequencies that would shift your mood, or make you nauseous), and spy devices to gather information for blackmailing and manipulation.”
Another alleged survivor, model Sarah McNeilly, described how she first became involved with Manson.
“He (Bryan Warner) lured me in with ‘love bombing’,” she claimed.
“Posing as the perfect boyfriend. Claiming he was just misunderstood. Charming, smart, funny, charismatic.
“As he was wooing me I would come to find out that he was torturing others. Before long, I was the one being tortured.”
McNeilly claimed she was locked in rooms and isolated from friends and colleagues.
“I was verbally berated for hours upon hours. Blamed for everything under the sun in order to make me feel worthless,” she alleged.
She also listed several alleged violent outbursts, including one time when he “threatened to bash my face in” and another time when he threatened to “shank” a male friend.
Another model, Ashley Lindsay Morgan, said she was first contacted by Marilyn Manson while working in Thailand around 2010.
“I went from the Roosevelt Hotel to living with him very quickly, and things turned dark very quickly as well,” she alleged.
“I was given rules and got ‘in trouble’ for any behaviour he didn’t approve of.”
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Some of the ways she alleged Manson abused include preventing her from eating, sleeping and leaving, as well as routinely hurting and shaming her.
“I don’t want him to do this to anyone else, and I’ve felt responsible for other getting hurt for so long,” Morgan added.
She also alleged that Manson pressured to bring him Nazi memorabilia that had supposedly been hidden in Asia during and after WWII.
“He wanted everything I could find… I brought him swastika throwing stars, knives, rings, it felt so wrong because I am Jewish,” she claimed.
“He said he only dates Jewish girls, and it was just a joke between us.
“I brought him all of this horrible stuff, and feel so much guilt and shame because of it.”
Finally, an artist who goes by Gabriella or Sourgirrrl also claimed she was abused by Manson.
She said they first met in 2015, when she was 22 and he was 46.
“The second time we met, he broke a wine glass in the hotel room and demanded we make a blood pact together,” she alleged.
“He cut both of our hands with the broken glass.”
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From there, things went “from zero to 100 at full speed,” she alleged, saying that Manson “worked a kind of magic” on her to the point that she “became completely enmeshed in his world”.
Gabriella also made multiple accusations of rape, psychical violence, racism and forced drug use against Manson.
In one alleged incident she was locked in a separate hotel room called “the bad girl room”.
“I was alone in the room for 24 hours. All I had was the clothes on my back and my cell phone,” Gabriella alleged.
“He had my wallet, passport and luggage in his room.”
All of the four women other than Wood claimed they have suffered from PTSD and other severe, psychological issues. Three of them also shared screenshots of texts or emails which they alleged were sent by Manson himself.
Dan Cleary, another muso who toured with Marilyn Manson in the late 2000s, last year tweeted about Manson’s alleged abuse of Wood. On Monday, she shared screenshots of those tweets.
Cleary has since posted a new tweet: “Believe the women. Proud of them for naming their abuser. There’s strength in numbers. Sadly the number is high.”
It’s gonna be a long day for someone. Shit, meet the fan. I told you before. Believe the women. Proud of them for naming their abuser. There’s strength in numbers. Sadly the number is high. ❤️
— Dan Cleary🛸 (@DanCleary79) February 1, 2021
While Manson has not addressed the accusations at the time of publication, Vanity Fair reports that he has “categorically denied” similar claims before.
Help is available.
If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
