(This story has been updated with fresh allegations on Marilyn Manson)
Evan Rachel Wood, the American actor who is best known for her role in Westworld, alleged her former fiancé, singer-songwriter Marilyn Manson of abusing her during their relationship on social media 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,” she wrote in the Instagram post.
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Since Wood made the accusation, four other women posted their own allegations against Manson claiming sexual abuse, violence, and intimidation. Wood re-shared these accusations on her Instagram stories.
One of the victims, Gabriella, wrote on Instagram that Manson forced her to take drugs with him and demanded she make a “blood pact” with him by cutting both their hands with broken glass.
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Another woman, Sarah McNeilly, wrote on Instagram, “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.”
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Ashley Lindsay Morgan, another victim, wrote on Instagram that she “wasn’t allowed to eat, or sleep, or leave” Manson’s house.
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Manson denied the allegations and wrote in an Instagram post, “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.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, due to these allegations, Manson was dropped by his record label and relieved from two television appearances. In a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter, Loma Vista Recordings said they would no longer promote Manson’s recent album.
“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.
Starz’s American Gods, in which Manson appears in a short role, will not air one episode, which includes Manson, until his character has been edited out, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Due to the allegations made against Marilyn Manson, we have decided to remove his performance from the remaining episode he is in, scheduled to air later this season. Starz stands unequivocally with all victims and survivors of abuse,” a Starz spokesperson said in a statement.
Manson and Wood began dating in 2007 and got engaged in 2010, but broke up later that year. Wood was 19 at the time and Manson was 36.
In 2016, Wood wrote in a letter to Rolling Stone that she had been sexually assaulted twice. She wrote, “I have been raped. By a significant other while we were together, and on a separate occasion, by the owner of a bar.” In the letter she also said, “The first time I was unsure that if it was done by a partner it was still in fact rape, until too late. Also, who would believe me.”
In 2018, Wood had testified before a House Judiciary Subcommittee to get the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights passed in all 50 states of the USA.
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“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 told the subcommittee, although she did not reveal any name at the time.
Actor Esme Bianco, best known for playing Ros in Game of Thrones, has come forward and accused Manson of “human trafficking” her. In a post on Instagram and in several interviews Bianco has talked about her story.
“I am naming the person who abused and human trafficked me. His name is Marilyn Manson, born Brian Hugh Warner. I am coming forward after years of living with the unthinkable trauma I endured at the hands of the serial predator known to many as Marilyn Manson,” she wrote in her Instagram post.
English song-writer Ellie Roswell came forward with her accusation towards Manson onTwitter and wrote, “I met Marilyn backstage at a festival a few years ago. After his compliments towards my band became more and more hyperbolic I became suspicious of his behaviour. I was shocked to look down and see he was filming up my skirt with a gopro.”
I met Marilyn backstage at a festival a few years ago. After his compliments towards my band became more and more hyperbolic I became suspicious of his behaviour. I was shocked to look down and see he was filming up my skirt with a gopro.
— ellierowsell (@elliecrowsell) February 6, 2021
American actor Corey Feldman also took to Instagram and shared his story of abuse.
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