Warning: This article references sexual abuse and domestic violence.
According to documents reviewed by Rolling Stone, musician Marilyn Manson has agreed to pay around $327,000 towards ex-fiance Evan Rachel Wood‘s attorney fees and drop a previous defamation claim.
The legal bill is a result of a defamation lawsuit filed by Manson, who enjoyed a decades-long glam rock career before being accused of sexual, physical, and mental abuse by several women, including Westworld alum Wood in Feb. 2021.
“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,” she said on Instagram in a now-unviewable post.
Manson, real name Brian Hugh Warner, denied Wood’s claim on Instagram. This post was also taken down. In it, he used his “shock rock” persona and artistry as a shield, vowing that his real-life behavior did not align with his dark public image.
“Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality,” the post read. “My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners.” He said Wood and others were “choosing to misinterpret” the past.
Manson filed the defamation lawsuit in Mar. 2022, but Wood’s attorneys Michael Kump, Shawn Holle,y and Katherine Kleindienst said in a statement that Manson had sought to settle the lawsuit in spring. Wood rejected the offer, not wanting to agree to confidentiality and its other terms.
Wood’s representative said in a statement that Manson “filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career. But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed,” Wood’s representative said in a statement.
Wood and Manson were in a relationship when she was 18 and Manson was 36 and were engaged in 2010 before splitting. The age gap alone is egregious, however, Wood testified before Congress to help secure a bill of rights for sexual assault survivors in 2021 and detailed how the power imbalance went far beyond that.
Without naming him, she said, she was subjected to “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 referred to sadistic “torture” where she was ritualistically tied up, beaten, and assaulted. “My relationship suffers, my partners suffer, my mental and physical health suffer. Seven years after my rapes — plural — I was diagnosed with long-term PTSD, which I had been living with all that time without knowledge about my condition. I simply thought I was going crazy.”
Manson’s retaliatory suit has been discussed in relation to Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit filed against ex-wife Amber Heard following her domestic abuse allegations. Concerns were been raised that the successful way Depp’s counsel and representatives tackled his abuse allegations would give rise to other powerful stars following the playbook.
Manson’s dropped defamation lawsuit will go down as a major loss for him, despite his attorney Howard King telling Rolling Stone the star simply wanted to “close the door” on this life chapter. Attempts to stop Wood from speaking on the matter have failed, which is encouraging news for other survivors hoping to name their alleged abusers.
If you are experiencing domestic abuse, or if you believe someone you know is being abused, contact The National Domestic Violence Hotline. The hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE or spoken with online via the hotline’s website. Mobile phone owners can also text “START” to the number 88788.