MARILYN MANSON. Actress Evan Rachel Wood accuses singer Marilyn Manson of raping her while filming a music video in 2007.
Marilyn Manson overwhelmed. The controversial singer is (again) accused of rape by actress Evan Rachel Wood. In the HBO documentary Phoenix Rising, presented on the occasion of the American festival of Sundance, the latter reveals that Marilyn Mason would have abused her taking advantage of the filming of the clip Heart-Sheaped Glasses, in 2007. At that time, she was in a relationship with the artist.
“We had talked about a simulated sex scene. But when the cameras were rolling, he started to really penetrate me”, explains facing camera Evan Rachel Wood, claiming “never to have given [s]we agree for that.” The actress says that she “did not have to say no”, because she had “been conditioned and trained to never answer, to go after it at all costs.”
“I was forced into a commercial sex act under a false pretext (…) I was raped in front of the camera. I can say that the team was very embarrassed and no one knew what to do”, she adds. Evan Rachel Wood, known in particular for her role in the series Westworld, had already accused Marilyn Manson in 2021 of having abused her while they were a couple, from 2006 to 2010. The actress then explained that she had been subjected to “horrible abuse for years”.
Marilyn Manson, whose real name Brian Hugh Warner, was born on January 5, 1969 in Canton in the United States. Educated in an Episcopalian establishment, Brian Warner developed a passion for rock very early on and became a fan of AC/DC and Kiss. At eighteen, he moved to Florida and began studying journalism and theater. In 1989, he decided to form a band with guitarist Scott Putesky and took his stage name, Marilyn Manson, in reference to Marilyn Monroe and serial killer Charles Manson. The group, which calls itself Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids, is built in the rejection of puritanical America. His music is classified as alternative rock.
In 1992, the group renamed itself Marilyn Manson. His first album, Portrait of an American Family, released in 1994. Next came Smells Like Children in 1995, Antichrist Superstar in 1996, Mechanical Animals in 1998, Holywood in 2000, The Golden Age of Grotesque in 2003, Eat Me, Drink Me in 2007, The High End of Low in 2009, BornVillain in 2012, The Pale Emperor in 2015, Heaven Upside Down in 2017 and finally, WE ARE CHAOS in 2020.
Besides music, Marilyn Manson has tried other fields. The face of Saint Laurent’s spring-summer 2014 ready-to-wear collection, Marilyn Manson has appeared in several films. In 1997, he landed the role of a porn star in Lost Highway, the film by David Lynch. Interviewed by Michael Moore in his documentary Bowling for Columbine in 2002), Marilyn Manson turns in particular in the film The Book of Jeremiah, directed by Asia Argento in 2004.
Against Marilyn Manson, the list of charges is still growing. Several months after the flood of allegations of sexual violence by several women, including actress Evan Rachel Wood, it is the turn of the model Ashley Morgan Smithline to deliver a chilling testimony, accusing the controversial singer of rape, deals with human and sequestration.
In his complaint, relayed by the site RollingStone and which follows a video interview granted to the site People, the American says she met the artist in 2010. Ashley Morgan Smithline recounts the influence that Marilyn Manson would have had on her from the start of their relationship, which was initially consented. In her interview with the People site, the model said “that she woke up one day from a state of unconsciousness, with her wrists and ankles tied and that Warner (Brian Warner is the real name of Marilyn Manson editor’s note. ) was penetrating her. When she told him to stop, he told her to ‘shut up.’ She says she hurt her ribs and vagina. ‘He kept telling me, ‘You can’t a person you are in love with”.
In her complaint, Ashley Morgan Smithline claims to have been beaten several times by Marilyn Manson, who, according to her account, engraved an “MM”, still visible, on her thigh. She says that she wanted to run away several times, but that the artist threatened to kill her if she did. “We strongly deny the complaint of Mrs. Smithline”, answers the artist in a press release sent to the Rolling Stone site on June 30. In total, a dozen women accuse Marilyn Manson of sexual violence.
After the testimony of actress Evan Rachel Wood on Instagram, accusing the singer of sexual violence, several other women had already spoken at the beginning of the year to denounce similar facts. Evan Rachel Wood, known in particular for her role in the series Westworld, denounced claims to have been “psychologically manipulated” by Marilyn Manson when she was 20 years old and subjected to horrible abuse for years”.
After her testimony, widely relayed on social networks, Ashley Walters, Gabriella, Ashley Lindsay Morgan and Sarah McNeilly in turn detailed their experiences in press releases and claim to have suffered “sexual assault, psychological abuse or various forms of coercion , violence and intimidation”, can we read in the columns of the American site Vanity Fair. The controversial artist had already been the subject of such accusations in the past, accusations which he had always denied.
The day after this speech, Marilyn Manson finally spoke, also on his Instagram account. “Obviously, my art and my life have long been controversial, but these recent allegations against me are horrific distortions of reality. My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual, with partners in agreement. No matter how and why d ‘others today choose to distort the past, it’s the truth,’ he wrote in a short text.
It should be noted that his label Loma Vista Recordings, with which he had released a last album in 2020, announced following these allegations that it had ceased its work with the singer. “In light of today’s disturbing allegations from Evan Rachel Wood and other women naming Marilyn Manson as their abuser, Loma Vista will cease promoting her current album, effective immediately. Due to these developments concerns, we have also decided not to work with Marilyn Manson on future projects”, could we read in a press release published in early February 2021.
Once again, the earthquake came from social networks. In a publication posted on Instagram on February 1, 2021, actress Evan Rachel Wood accuses singer Marylin Manson of sexual violence. “My abuser’s name is Brian Warner, known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started gaining my trust when I was a teenager and abused me for years. He brainwashed me and manipulated into submission. I want to expose this dangerous man and the many industries that allowed him to do so, before he ruins other lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.” writes the actress.
The private life of Marilyn Manson has often made the headlines of the tabloid press across the Atlantic. From 1997 to 2001, the singer frequented actress Rose McGowan, who has now become one of the faces of feminism and freedom of speech. In 2001, Marylin Manson appeared with Dita von Teese, whom he married in 2005, then divorced in 2006.
It was the following year that he made several public appearances with Evan Rachel Wood, then 20 years old, who also appeared in his music video. Heart-Shaped. The couple separated in 2010 after getting engaged. The actress says she was subjected to “horrible abuse for years.” Without naming his executioner, Evan Rachel Wood had already testified in 2018 before the Committee on Judiciary Affairs of the House of Representatives, evoking his long ordeal as a victim of psychological and physical abuse. She also claimed to have been raped on several occasions.
After her story with Evan Rachel Wood, Marilyn Manson meets Lindsay Usich, a former model who became a photographer and painter, sixteen years her junior. Together since then, they would have married during confinement. Both had also made a public appearance a few weeks earlier on the Oscars red carpet in February 2020.