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Marilyn Manson is reportedly suing ex-fiancee Evan Rachel Wood for defamation over abuse allegations she made against the singer. According to Deadline, the musician filed a lawsuit against Wood and Ashley “Illma” Gore in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, March 1, 2022.
The singer deemed Wood and Gore’s past allegations “malicious falsehood” that “derailed” his successful music, film and TV career. The suit alleged that the women conjured “a conspiracy” to bring down Manson.
The lawsuit comes ahead of the release of HBO Max’s Phoenix Rising, a documentary highlighting Wood’s allegations against Manson nearly a decade after their relationship.
Trigger warning: This article has mentions of emotional and s**ual abuse.
Exploring Marilyn Manson’s lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood
Marilyn Manson has filed a lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood on alleged charges of defamation, emotional distress, impersonation and violation of the Computer Data and Access Fraud Act. The lawsuit comes nearly a year after the actress accused her ex-fiance of alleged abuse and domestic violence.
The suit claims that Wood and her “on-again, off-again romantic partner” Ashley Gore once impersonated a real-life FBI agent. This was meant to create a “false appearance” that Manson’s alleged victims and their families were in danger and that the singer was part of an ongoing federal investigation.
Manson claimed that the women “provided checklists and scripts to prospective accusers.” He added that they had listed specific acts of alleged abuse against him beforehand, including the “defamatory claim” that he filmed the assault of a minor.
The lawsuit also alleged that Gore created a fake email account to show that Manson was exchanging inappropriate media content with people. It even claimed that she attempted to obtain his login information by hacking into his computer, phone, and email.
Manson’s attorney Howard King told Deadline that Wood and Gore have allegedly spread “vindictive and demonstrably untrue” information against the singer through their claims:
“Wood’s claims may resonate because of the intentionally ‘shocking’ character of ‘Marilyn Manson’ but they simply do not reflect the truth. The manufactured facts these conspirators scripted a decade after the event never happened.”
The lawyer told The Rolling Stone that Gore “recruited numerous women” and convinced them to make false allegations against Manson years after his relationship with Wood came to an end:
“For at least the last two years, Gore and Wood have secretly recruited, coordinated, and pressured prospective accusers to emerge simultaneously with allegations against Warner and brazenly claim that it took 10 or more years to ‘realize’ their consensual relationships with Warner were supposedly abusive.”
The lawsuit also cited old interviews where Wood confessed to being happy in her relationship with Manson. It suggested that she decided to launch a campaign against the singer after meeting Gore.
Manson alleged that Gore used Wood’s nonprofit organization The Phoenix Act and her involvement in Phoenix Rising to convince other women to make false accusations against him.
Marilyn Manson is currently seeking “unspecified damages” from Wood and Gore along with an injunction preventing the women from “engaging in further wrongful conduct” towards him.
Meanwhile, his attorney clarified that the detailed complaint has been filed to stop a “campaign of malicious and unjustified attacks on Brian Warner (the real name of Marilyn Manson).”
King informed that though HBO Max and Phoenix Rising producers have been informed about the “acts of misconduct,” they have decided to move forward with the project. No changes have been made to the air date of the docuseries at the time of writing.
A look into Evan Rachel Wood’s allegations against Marilyn Manson
Evan Rachel Wood met Marilyn Manson in 2005 and publicly confirmed their relationship in 2007. The couple briefly broke up in 2008 but eventually reconciled. They got engaged in 2010 but officially called it quits just eight months into the engagement.
Several years after their separation, Wood told The Rolling Stone that she was assaulted by a “significant other” during a relationship. Although the actress did not name the perpetrator at the time, she mentioned that it took her years to understand the nature of the abuse.
In 2008, the Westworld star testified about the assault to the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee:
“It started slow but escalated over time, including threats against my life, severe gas-lighting and brainwashing.”
The actress shared that she was often tied up during the assault and had to suffer mental and physical torture to prove her love for her abuser:
“While I was tied up and being beaten and told unspeakable things, I truly felt like I could die. Not just because my abuser said to me, 'I could kill you right now,' but because in that moment I felt like I left my body and I was too afraid to run.”
In 2019, Wood took part in the online #IAmNotOkay campaign. She shared photos from her 2010 Elle magazine shoot, remembering how she felt “weakened” by an abusive relationship at the time.
That same year, the actress testified about her experience once again at the California Senate Public Safety Committee to advocate for the Phoenix Act.
Although Wood did not provide the name of her abuser, she revealed that the man isolated her from her friends and family:
"I ended up adopting the persona of the person he wanted me to be and losing myself completely."
Wood then claimed that her partner monitored her phone and made her go through “starvation, sleep deprivation, and threats.” She alleged that he threatened to kill her loved ones and forced her to engage in painful, torturous and humiliating acts.
Wood also shared that she has been diagnosed with "complex PTSD, including disassociation, panic attacks, night terrors, agoraphobia, impulse control, chronic pain” due to past abuse.
In February 2021, the Mildred Pierce star finally revealed the name of her abuser and directly accused Marilyn Manson of abuse and violence. Although the latter denied the allegations, he was dropped by his record label Loma Vista Recordings.
Wood even accused Manson of exhibiting anti-Semitic behavior during their relationship. She also claimed that she was wrongfully filmed while shooting the 2007 Heart-Shaped Glasses music video with the singer. The actress further detailed the alleged abuse in the two-part HBO docuseries Phoenix Rising.
Marilyn Manson continued to refute the claims made against him and filed a defamation lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood this week.
Despite the complaint, Phoenix Rising is scheduled to be released on HBO Max on March 16, 2022.
