Actor Evan Rachel Wood opened up about being abused by musician Marilyn Manson this Monday. Wood claimed he started grooming her at a young age and the abused lasted throughout their relationship, which began in 2007 (Wood was 19 and Manson was 38).
Wood wrote in the form of an Instagram post, “The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. 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 many victims who will no longer be silent.”
“He cut me off from my close friends and family one by one, by exhibiting rage in some form or another when I was in contact with them,” she declared during her testimony. “He had bouts of extreme jealousy, which would often result in him wrecking our home, cornering me in a room, and threatening me.”
Wood felt scared for her life as he many times threatened to kill her. An in one instance nearly had. During an explosive situation, Manson kneeled her down in the bedroom, tied her hands and feet so that he could beat and shock her with a device. Another time in 2009, after Wood left him, he told an interviewer, “I have fantasies every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer.”
Manson stayed silent throughout the day until later that evening, he posted this statement: “Obviously, my life and my art 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.”
Many other victims came forward before Wood. Such as actress Charlyne Yi who claimed he harassed her in a thread of now-deleted tweets, and Dan Cleary, a former assistant to Manson.
Record label Loma Vista, who released Manson’s most recent work, stated they would no longer support him.
“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,” they said announced to Twitter. “Due to these concerning developments, we have also decided not to work with Marilyn Manson on any future projects.”
