Evan Rachel Wood Accuses Marilyn Manson Of Abuse: 'I Am Done Living In Fear'

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Actor Evan Rachel Wood on Monday publicly accused rocker Marilyn Manson for the first time of abusing her while they dated in the mid-to-late 2000s.

In an Instagram post, Wood alleged that Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, began “grooming” her when she was a teenager and “horrifically abused” her for several years.

“I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission,” Wood wrote. “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.”

The two were often the subject of Hollywood gossip during their on-and-off relationship between 2006 and 2011 because of their 18-year age difference. Wood was 18 years old when she met Manson, and he was 36.

At least four other women posted abuse allegations against Manson on Monday. The women are identified on social media as Ashley Walters, Sarah McNeilly and Ashley Lindsay Morgan, as well as one additional anonymous accuser.

“As he was wooing me I would come to find out he was torturing others,” McNeilly, a model, wrote in an Instagram post. “Before long I was the one being tortured.”

“I was emotionally abused, terrorized and scarred,” she wrote. “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.”

A representative for Manson did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

In 2018, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to investigate a police report alleging that Manson was involved in unspecified sex crimes dating back to 2011. The district attorney’s office cited the statute of limitations and what it called a lack of corroboration. At the time, Manson “categorically denied” the allegations, according to his legal team.

Earlier that year, Wood testified before Congress on her experiences with domestic violence and sexual assault, as part of an effort to get the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights implemented in all 50 states.

“My self-esteem and spirit were broken,” she said in that testimony. “I was deeply terrified and that fear lives with me to this day. What makes me more hurt and more angry than the actual rape and abuse itself, was that piece of me that was stolen, which altered the course of my life.”

Wood said the abuse caused her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, which included depression, night terrors and agoraphobia.

She did not name her attacker during her testimony, though many fans speculated at the time that she was referring to Manson.

Manson, 52, is best known for his shock rock music, some of which describes rape fantasies and murder. He has also worked as an actor, appearing on the TV series “Sons of Anarchy” and “The New Pope.”

In 2018, actor Charlyne Yi accused Manson of sexually harassing her while he visited the set of the TV show “House.” She said he also made racist comments.

“He came on set to visit because he was a huge fan of the show, and he harassed just about every woman, asking us if we were going to scissor, rhino & called me a China man,” Yi tweeted at the time. She has since deleted her Twitter account.

Manson told Spin magazine in 2009 that he fantasized daily about smashing Wood’s “skull in with a sledgehammer.” Last year, a representative for Manson said the musician was simply being “theatrical” when he made the comment.

At least two men have accused Manson of sexually assaulting them in the early 2000s while they worked as security guards at his concerts. Both filed lawsuits alleging that Manson grabbed their heads and gyrated on them without their consent while he was wearing only a thong.

Manson was cleared in the first case and reached a private settlement in the second.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-866-331-9474 or text “loveis” to 22522 for the National Dating Abuse Helpline.

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...