Evan Rachel Wood Names Marilyn Manson as Her Abuser: ‘I Am Done Living in Fear’
Evan Rachel Wood accused Marilyn Manson of abuse and grooming on Monday (Feb. 1), after years of speculation regarding an unnamed victimizer the actress referenced in congressional testimony from 2018. She also spoke of a then-unidentified abuser in even earlier instances.
Wood named the rock musician in a short statement on social media, following much media scrutiny presuming Manson as the abuser. At least four other women joined Wood, posting separate allegations against Manson, as Vanity Fair reported. Last November, Manson terminated a phone interview early after Wood's name was mentioned — before he hung up, he called any accusations "rumors." Shortly after, a representative for Manson issued an explanation on the musician's behalf.
On Monday, however, Wood publicly put an identity to her allegations for the first time.
"The name of my abuser is Brian Warner," Wood said on Instagram, "also known to the world as Marilyn Manson."
"He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years," the Westworld and True Blood actress continued. "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."
Wood's relationship with Manson first came to public attention in 2007, shortly after the rocker split with dancer Dita Von Teese. Manson and Wood got engaged in 2010, but the pair broke up months later. Before that, Wood appeared in Manson's "Heart-Shaped Glasses" music video.
Those joining Wood in accusing Manson of abuse include Sarah McNeilly, Ashley Lindsay Morgan, Ashley Walters and a woman named Gabriella. Each shared their own statements this week.
"I was emotionally abused, terrorized and scarred," McNeilly said in her statement. "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."
Morgan said "night terrors, PTSD, anxiety and mostly crippling OCD" stem from the abuse. "I try to wash constantly to get him out or off of me. … I am coming forward so he will finally stop."
Saying "Brian Warner needs to be held accountable," Walters asserted that Manson "continues to inflict on so many and I cannot stand by and let this happen to others," according to Vanity Fair. (Walters' accompanying Instagram post appears to have since been removed.)
Gabriella said in her statement that Manson "told me to take off all my clothes and take a shower in front of him. … The second time we met, he broke a wine glass in the hotel room and demanded we make a blood pact together. He cut both of our hands with the broken glass."
In 2018, without naming her abuser, Wood told the U.S. House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security that she'd experienced "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."
As of this posting, Manson and his team have yet to offer comment on the allegations bearing his name.