This post deals with domestic violence and suicide and might be triggering for some readers.
Westworld actress Evan Rachel Wood has named her former fiancé and singer Marilyn Manson as her abuser a decade after she alleges he subjected her to "horrific abuse".
Wood was 18 years old when she first met Manson, then 36, and dated him for three years until 2010.
Now aged 33, Wood has finally named Manson as the attacker she has alluded to in recent years, writing on Instagram, "The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson."
"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," she wrote.
"I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent."
Wood than shared the testimonies of four more women who accused Manson of horrifying physical and emotional abuse, including torture.
Here are their stories.
Evan Rachel Wood.
Wood and Manson began dating in 2007 when she was 19.
She inspired his 2007 song 'Heart-Shaped Glasses', and appeared in the video making out with him as fake blood rained down on them both.
In 2016, Wood told Rolling Stone about falling in love with the singer-songwriter as a teenager: "I met somebody that promised freedom and expression and no judgments. And I was craving danger and excitement. I looked at my mother one day and said, ‘Mum, I’m gonna get on this tour bus for eight months and see the world and have a crazy journey and find myself, and if people aren’t OK with that, I’m sorry, but I can’t live my life for other people.'"
Wood had been a child actor since the age of five, making her debut as a leading film actress at the age of nine in Digging in China (1997). But it was Thirteen which garnered her acclaim, as well as a Golden Globe nomination in 2013, at the age of just 14.
As she told Rolling Stone, "Most teenagers are searching for identity, and I was thrown into a situation where I was supposed to have that already figured out. Then you’re demonised for figuring it out and getting messy."
The couple split briefly in November 2008 before reuniting and getting engaged in January 2010. Eight months later the engagement was called off.
Wood has spoken publicly about being a survivor of rape and domestic abuse although she has never named Manson, until now.
In 2016 she spoke about a suicide attempt at the age of 22, after spending her early 20s being subjected to "physical, psychological, sexual" abuse.
"[It] was, weirdly, the best-worst thing that ever happened to me. ‘Cause it did not work," she told Rolling Stone.
The then 29-year-old said she'd been raped by two men, a "significant other" and a bar owner.
"I am still standing. I am alive. I am happy. I am strong. But I am still not OK," she said.
In 2018, Wood appeared before the US House Judiciary Committee amid a campaign for the 2016 Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act to be enacted across the US, and detailed her experiences of various forms of abuse from an unnamed person.
"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," she said.
She said that in the wake of the attacks, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In 2019 she testified to the California Senate Public Safety Committee in support of a bill expanding the rights of victims of domestic violence. She said an unnamed abuser, who she met in her late teens, made “threats against my life, sometimes with deadly weapons”, alleging that he also tortured and starved her, monitored her phone usage and threatened her with blackmail.
Watch: Evan Rachel Wood talks about standing up to domestic violence on Today in 2019. Post continues after video.
Manson was questioned about Wood's testimony, as he had said about Wood in an interview with Spin Magazine in 2009: "I have fantasies every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer."
His representatives said the comment was not factual.
However, he also told the publication, "Every time I called her that day - I called 158 times - I took a razor blade and I cut myself on my face or on my hands. I wanted to show her the pain she put me through."
In reference to the 2018 and 2019 accusations, Manson's representatives said it would be "inappropriate to comment on personal testimony", as reported by the BBC.
This week, after she named Manson as her abuser, Wood shared more allegations against the singer, detailing his anti-Semitic and racist behaviour.
"I was called a 'jew' in a derogatory manner," she alleged on Instagram.
"He would draw swastikas over my bedside table when he was mad at me. I heard the 'n' word over and over," she continued.
"Everyone around him was expected to laugh and join in. If you did not or (god forbid) called him out, you were singled out and abused more. I have never been so scared in my life."
The actor also explained that the alleged abuse didn't happen when they were having sex.
"Brian and I never had a 'BDSM' relationship. We didn't even have 'kinky' sex. We weren't having sexual intercourse when I was being tortured, before or after," Wood said.
"I thought I was going to die the entire time," she added.
Rose McGowan, who was engaged to Manson for two years before their split in 2001, said she is "proud" of Wood and the other accusers.
"I stand with Evan Rachel Wood and other brave women who have come forward," McGowan said on Monday in a tweet. "It takes years to recover from abuse and I send them strength on their journey to recovery. Let the truth be revealed. Let the healing begin."
Walters says Manson subjected her to "psychological abuse".
"He was very skilled at gaslighting his inner circle. I'd witness him inflict his psychological abuse on everyone he employed, everyone he dated. He would dictate the perimeters of our reality. Horrifying, deranged behaviour and insane scenarios became normalised. He was extremely interested in mind control, torture tactics and spy devices to gather information for blackmailing and manipulation."
She says Manson would offer her up for sexual encounters to please potential collaborators or friends and brag about the fact he could do so.
"I'd be threatened if he wasn't happy with me or be made to do impossible tasks. He isolated me from friends and family and sometimes I wouldn't be allowed to leave for days. Sometimes I wouldn't be allowed to sleep," she said.
Even after Walters got herself out, she says Manson continued to harass her and smear her reputation. To this day, she still suffers from PTSD and depression.
Sarah McNeilly.
Model Sarah McNeilly says she was lured in by Manson and his "love-bombing" after he posed as the perfect boyfriend: charming, smart, funny and charismatic.
"As he was wooing me, I would come to find out he was torturing others. Before long I was the one being tortured," she wrote on Instagram on Monday.
"I was emotionally abused, terrorised and scarred. 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. I wasn’t allowed to go near other artists working on the same set, as he told me they had AIDS and were disgusting and if I did so he would be very upset and ‘I wouldn’t want that’. I was verbally berated for hours upon hours. Blamed for everything under the sun in order to make me feel worthless," she shared.
"I have been afraid to bring any spotlight upon myself as to avoid winding up in his crosshairs again. As a result of the way he treated me, I suffer from mental health issues and PTSD that have affected my personal and professional relationships, self-worth and personal goals. I believe he gets off on ruining people's lives. I stand in support of all that have and all will come forward. I want to see Brian held accountable for his evil," she added.
Ashley Lindsay Morgan.
Model and actor Ashley Lindsay Morgan was contacted by Manson while modelling overseas in Thailand in 2009/2010.
He said he wanted her for an upcoming project and flew her to LA to be a part of a film and photo series.
"I went from the Roosevelt Hotel to living with him very quickly and things turned dark very quickly as well. I was given rules and got 'in trouble' for any behaviour he didn't approve of," she wrote on Instagram on Monday.
"There was abuse, sexual violence, physical violence and coercion. I still feel the effects every day. I have night terrors, PTSD, anxiety and mostly crippling OCD. I try to wash constantly to get him off me," she wrote.
"I know he is still doing this to a rotating door of young girls, and causing irreparable damage. I am coming forward so he will finally stop."
Morgan also shared that Manson asked her to bring him back Nazi memorabilia like swastika throwing stars, knives and rings from Thailand.
He told Morgan, who is Jewish, that it was a "joke between them".
*****
It’s unknown why the women chose February 1, 2021, to make their allegations public nor is it known if any of the women have spoken to the police.
Manson has since responded to the allegations, writing on Instagram late on Monday: "Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are 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."
The 52-year-old has been officially dropped from his record label in the wake of these allegations. In a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter, Loma Vista Recordings said they will no longer promote Manson's recent album or work with him on future projects.
"In light of today’s disturbing allegations by Evan Rachel Wood and other women naming Marilyn Manson as their abuser, Loma Vista will cease to further promote his current album, effective immediately. Due to these concerning developments, we have also decided not to work with Marilyn Manson on any future projects," the record label said.
On Wednesday, Manson's ex wife, Dita Von Teese, spoke out about the allegations against him.
In a statement shared to her Instagram, Von Teese, who was briefly married to Manson between 2005 and 2006, explained that she has been "processing the news".
"To those who have expressed your concerns of my well-being, I appreciate your kindness. Please know that the details made public do not match my personal experience during our seven years together as a couple," she wrote.
"Had they, I would have not married him in December 2005. I left 12 months later due to infidelity and drug abuse," she continued.
The burlesque dancer and lingerie designer went on to say that "abuse of any kind has no place in any relationship".
"I urge those of you have incurred abuse to take steps to heal and the strength to fully realise yourself."
Meanwhile, comedian and actor Charlyne Yi has previously accused Manson of sexual harassment and racist comments.
In a series of tweets in 2018 that have since been deleted, Yi said Manson called her "China Man" on the set of House and "harassed just about every woman asking us if we were going to scissor".
"I stand with the survivors who have shared about Brian Warner. Three years ago I shared about Brian's sexual harassment and white supremacy towards me. At the time I deactivated my social media because I received thousands of death threats," she wrote on Monday.
"Please support the people who spoke out. It is f***ing hard, especially when Brian has so much power and violence in his history."
If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn’t matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.
Feature Image: Instagram/Getty.
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