Actress Evan Rachel Wood has identified Marilyn Manson as her abuser.
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” Wood wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. “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.”
According to Vanity Fair, four other women have also come forward with their own allegations against Manson, “detailing harrowing experiences that they claim included sexual assault, psychological abuse, and/or various forms of coercion, violence, and intimidation.”
Wood, the star of HBO’s Westworld, had previously spoken publicly about her abuse, but never before named her abuser. Speaking before the U.S. Congress in 2018 as part of an effort to get the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights passed in all 50 states, Wood shared: “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.”
The following year she again shared her story while testifying before California legislators on behalf of the Phoenix Act, which extends the statute of limitations on domestic violence felonies from three to five years. As Wood described her abusive relationship with an older man when she was 18, speculation centered around Manson, who dated Wood starting in 2007 (when he was 36). The former couple were briefly engaged before breaking up in late 2010.
During a 2019 interview with Metal Hammer, Manson was asked about Wood’s testimony, as well as past horrific comments he had made about her. In a 2009 article published in Spin, Manson was quoted as saying of Wood, “I have fantasies every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer.”
Manson cut short the interview with Metal Hammer and had his publicist follow up with a lengthy statement that included positive comments made about Manson by some of his other ex-partners. Regarding the comments in Spin, Manson’s publicist described them as “a theatrical rock star interview promoting a new record, and not a factual account.”
In 2018, Manson was briefly invesitgated for an unspecified sex crime that allegedly took place in 2011. However, the Los Angeles District’s Attorney office ultimately declined to pursue the case, citing a lack of evidence. At the time, Manson’s attorney said 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…. Any claim of sexual impropriety or imprisonment at that, or any other, time is false.”
Representatives for Manson did not respond to Vanity Fair prior to the publication of its story on Monday.
Update: Manson has been dropped by his record label, Loma Vista Recordings.