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Marilyn Manson has all the time been a controversial determine in music.
Critics within the Nineties accused his lewd model of rock music of selling Satanism, degrading girls and inciting violence, even blaming him for the Columbine Excessive Faculty bloodbath of 1999.
His profession took a very sinister flip in 2021 when his former accomplice, Westworld star Evan Rachel Wooden, accused Manson of psychologically and sexually abusing her.
Greater than a dozen different girls have since come ahead with related accusations in opposition to the musician.
Manson (whose authorized title is Brian Warner) has constantly denied sexually assaulting or abusing anybody, claiming that his “intimate relationships have all the time been completely consensual with like-minded companions”.
A brand new documentary collection exploring the accusations, Marilyn Manson Unmasked, is about to reach on Channel 4 on January 14.
Under, The Unbiased has put collectively a timeline of the allegations going through the rock artist since Wooden went public.
*Warning – this text comprises graphic references to sexual assault that some readers could discover upsetting*
1 February 2021 – Evan Rachel Wooden publicly names Manson as her alleged abuser
After years of alleging that she was raped and abused, Wooden named Manson because the alleged perpetrator.
“The title of my abuser is Brian Warner, additionally recognized to the world as Marilyn Manson,” Wooden wrote on Instagram in a since-deleted publish.
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The actor accused Manson of “grooming” her when she was an adolescent, “horrifically” abusing her for years in addition to “brainwashing and manipulating” her “into submission”.
Manson and Wooden started their relationship in 2007, when Wooden was 18 and Manson was 36. They have been engaged in January 2010, however referred to as off their relationship seven months later.
Following Wooden’s publish, a minimum of 4 different girls shared their very own allegations in opposition to Manson, together with sexual assault, psychological abuse, and varied types of violence, coercion and intimidation.
Manson was dropped by his document label, Loma Vista, whereas his US publicist instructed The Unbiased they might not be working with him.
Manson responds to the allegations with an announcement: “My intimate relationships have all the time been completely consensual with like-minded companions. No matter how – and why – others at the moment are selecting to misread the previous, that’s the reality.”
4 February 2021 – Phoebe Bridgers alleges Manson referred to a room in his home because the ‘rape room’
![Phoebe Bridgers](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/03/30/22/newFile-1.jpg)
In a publish on social media, indie artist Phoebe Bridgers shared her assist for Wooden and the opposite lady who had come ahead with allegations in opposition to Manson.
She additionally recalled visiting Manson’s home as an adolescent the place he allegedly identified a “rape room”.
“I went to Marilyn Manson’s home after I was an adolescent with some associates,” Bridgers wrote.
“I used to be a giant fan. He referred to a room in his home because the ‘r*pe room’, I assumed it was simply his horrible frat boy sense of humour. I ended being a fan.”
6 February 2021 – Corey Feldman accuses Manson of ‘decades-long psychological and emotional abuse’
In a prolonged Instagram publish, The Misplaced Boys actor Feldman accused Manson of “decades-long psychological and emotional abuse”.
Feldman, who additionally starred in The Goonies, claimed that Manson has been “obsessed” with him for over 20 years.
The then-49-year-old pointed to the “a number of passages about me in his guide” Lengthy Highway Out of Hell, which was launched in February 1998.
Feldman added that he first met the shock rocker on the premiere for Howard Stern’s 1997 movie Non-public Elements in New York, the place “the #GROOMING course of started”.
“He grabbed my face in entrance of the group and kissed me w his Black Lip Stick that I couldn’t rub off all night time.”
![Marilyn Manson in 2018](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/08/10/01/newFile.jpg)
6 February 2021 – Wooden accuses Manson of anti-Semitism
In an Instagram publish, Wooden claimed Manson referred to as her “jew in a derogatory method”. “He would draw swastikas over my bedside desk when he was mad at me,” she added.
Wooden additional alleged that in their relationship, she “heard the N-word again and again”.
The actor additionally posted images of Manson’s arms, on which she had circled sure tattoos. Wooden in contrast one of many tattoos – a cranium and crossbones design – to the neo-Nazi image “totenkopf”, which was used as an emblem for an unique department of the SS.
Wooden additionally drew consideration to the “M-Swastika” tattoo on the singer’s chest. She acknowledged that Manson didn’t have these tattoos once they first started relationship.
8 February 2021 – Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell says Manson filmed up her skirt with a GoPro
Days later, one other younger, feminine artist accused Manson of inappropriate sexual behaviour.
Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell tweeted: “Solidarity to Evan Rachel Wooden and people calling out Marilyn Manson…
“I met Marilyn backstage at a competition just a few years in the past. After his compliments in direction of my band grew to become increasingly more hyperbolic I grew to become suspicious of his behaviour. I used to be shocked to look down and see he was filming up my skirt with a GoPro.”
![Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/08/29/14/AP22239738063933.jpg)
She additional claimed that Manson’s tour supervisor instructed her that the singer “does this type of factor on a regular basis”.
11 February 2021 –Sport of Thrones actor Esmé Bianco names Manson as her alleged abuser
Bianco, who performed a Winterfell intercourse employee in HBO’s Sport of Thrones adaptation, dated Manson in 2011, after assembly him on the set of an unreleased music video.
Talking to The Cut, Bianco alleged that Manson inflicted cuts and bruises that left everlasting scars on her physique whereas they have been residing collectively.
She additionally claimed that Manson chased her with an axe and would repeatedly play her intercourse scene in Sport of Thrones to visitors with a purpose to humiliate her.
“I principally felt like a prisoner,” Bianco mentioned. “I got here and went at his pleasure. Who I spoke to was fully managed by him. I referred to as my household hiding within the closet.”
30 April 2021 – Bianco information a lawsuit in opposition to Manson
In a federal lawsuit, Bianco claimed that Manson violated human trafficking legal guidelines by bringing her to California from England below the false pretences of roles in music movies and flicks that by no means materialised.
She alleged that in 2009, Manson flew her to Los Angeles to shoot a video for the tune “I Need To Kill You Like They Do In The Motion pictures”.
![Esmé Bianco (left) and Marilyn Manson](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/04/30/21/Marilyn_Manson_Abuse_Lawsuit_04882.jpg)
In line with the go well with, Manson allegedly disadvantaged Bianco of meals and sleep, plied her with alcohol and medicines, locked her in a bed room, whipped her, gave her electrical shocks, tried to drive her to have intercourse with one other lady and threatened to enter her room and rape her throughout the night time. The music video was by no means launched.
The go well with additionally acknowledged that Manson allegedly introduced Bianco to Los Angeles once more in 2011, ostensibly to look in his function movie Phantasmagoria, which was additionally by no means launched.
Throughout that go to, Bianco alleged that Manson wouldn’t permit her to go away dwelling with out his permission, chased her round their house with an axe, lower her with a “Nazi knife” with out her consent and photographed the cuts and posted the photographs on-line, additionally with out her consent.
5 Could 2021 – Ashley Morgan Smithline describes ‘terrifying’ alleged abuse
In an interview with People, mannequin Smithline opened up concerning the alleged abuse Manson inflicted on her.
She accused Manson of raping her, slicing her and locking her in a glass, soundproof room – referred to as “the unhealthy women’ room” – at any time when she “pissed him off”. She claims to have been locked within the room greater than 100 instances.
Smithline recalled: “He saved telling me, ‘You possibly can’t rape somebody that you just’re in love with.’”
The 36-year-old went on to say that she was “brainwashed” by the musician over the course of two years, accusing him of carving his initials into her thigh.
A spokesperson for Manson denied Smithline’s accusations in an announcement revealed by NME, stating: “There are such a lot of falsehoods together with her claims that we wouldn’t know the place to start to reply them.”
![Ashley Morgan Smithline](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/05/06/08/ashley%20morgan%20smithline%20people.png)
It went on to refute her declare that the pair’s relationship lasted two years between 2010 and 2012, as an alternative alleging that it “didn’t final one week”.
28 Could 2021 – Manson accused of sexual assault and sexual battery by nameless ex-girlfriend in lawsuit
In a lawsuit filed in LA by a Jane Doe accuser, an nameless ex-girlfriend of Manson claims he subjected her to “degrading acts of sexual exploitation, manipulation and psychological abuse”.
Throughout their relationship – which started in 2011, a 12 months after Manson’s break up with Wooden – the lady claims Manson confirmed her a grotesque video tape titled “Groupie”, which the singer mentioned he filmed in 1996 after a live performance on the Hollywood Bowl.
On the tape, the lady claims to have seen a “seemingly younger teenage fan” crying whereas being berated by Manson who allegedly threatens her with a gun and forces her to drink a glass of urine.
The lady mentioned that the video left her scared for her personal life. In line with TMZ, a supply near the singer claimed the video was “a scripted brief movie for use for a future undertaking that was by no means formally launched”.
Amid a number of claims of continued sexual assault, the Jane Doe accused Manson of raping her when she went to return a key to his dwelling in 2011. After the alleged rape, the lady claims he threatened to kill her.
![Marilyn Manson](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/07/18/14/People_Marilyn_Manson_38276.jpg)
In September, a choose dismissed the lawsuit as a result of the lady’s claims of “delayed discovery”, or having repressed reminiscences, was not enough to beat the statute of limitations, in accordance with authorized paperwork cited by TMZ.
18 August 2021 – Manson accused of spitting and blowing snot on lady
Manson is presently scheduled to plead no contest to blowing his nostril on a videographer at a 2019 live performance in New Hampshire.
In line with the affidavit, Manson approached the videographer, put his face near the digicam and spit a “large lougee” at her. She was struck on each fingers with saliva.
Manson allegedly returned a second time, overlaying one facet of his nostril and blowing in Fountain’s path.
Manson initially pleaded not responsible in 2021. His lawyer had mentioned on the time that the kind of filming Fountain was doing generally exposes videographers to “incidental contact” with bodily fluids.
Nevertheless, a discover of intent filed in July 2023 says that Manson is anticipated to plead no contest to just one cost, and that prosecutors would dismiss the opposite within the totally negotiated plea. A no-contest plea means Manson is not going to contest the cost and doesn’t admit guilt.
Manson would face a sentence of a $1,200 high-quality with a part of it suspended and 20 hours of group service inside six months. Manson additionally would wish to stay arrest-free and notify native police of any New Hampshire performances for 2 years.
![Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/05/01/09/newFile-1.jpg)
14 November 2021 –Intensive report claims Manson’s house was ‘adorned with blood’
Rolling Stone spoke to greater than 55 individuals who have recognized the shock rocker at varied factors in his life as a part of the nine-month investigation.
Within the report, one one who visited Manson’s house claimed that “there have been vaginas in every single place,” whereas others claimed they noticed “AIDS” spray-painted above his mattress.
One other mentioned the house was “adorned with blood, swastikas, and clipped photographs from porno mags”.
14 November 2021 – Mannequin Sarah McNeilly alleges ‘completely terrifying’ abuse by singer
As a part of the Rolling Stone investigation, mannequin Sarah McNeilly described the “terrifying” abuse she allegedly confronted by the hands of the 52-year-old artist.
She claimed that Manson started abusing her and isolating her from her family members simply weeks after they grew to become romantically concerned.
“The bodily violence was nearly a aid. Like, the psychological s*** that he places you thru, that he infects your mind with, that he brainwashes you, you simply need it to cease,” McNeilly alleged.
![Model Sarah McNeilly alleges ‘absolutely terrifying’ abuse by Marilyn Manson](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/11/15/08/sarah%20marilyn.jpeg)
23 January 2022 – Wooden claims Marilyn Manson ‘basically raped her’ in music video
Wooden accused Manson of “basically [raping her] on-camera” throughout the filming of his 2007 video for “Coronary heart-Formed Glasses”.
The Golden Globe-nominated actor detailed her relationship with Manson in her documentary Phoenix Rising, which premiered 23 January at Sundance Movie Pageant.
Wooden, who was 20 on the time, alleged that she was given absinthe on the set of the video, by which she was styled on a personality from Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 movie Lolita a couple of man who turns into sexually obsessive about an underage lady.
“It’s nothing like I assumed it was going to be,” Wooden says within the documentary. “We’re doing issues that weren’t what was pitched to me. We had mentioned a simulated intercourse scene, however as soon as the cameras have been rolling, he began penetrating me for actual. I had by no means agreed to that … It was full chaos.”
Days after the documentary’s premiere, Manson’s lawyer Howard King instructed The Unbiased: “Of all of the false claims that Evan Rachel Wooden has made about Brian Warner, her imaginative retelling of the making of the ‘Coronary heart-Formed Glasses’ music video 15 years in the past is essentially the most brazen and best to disprove, as a result of there have been a number of witnesses.”
27 April 2022 –Bianco expands allegations in opposition to Manson
In a brand new movement filed on 27 April, Bianco additional claimed that Manson impeded her involvement in a deliberate video for rock band Deftones.
In line with the movement: “In alternate for offering her photographs, Ms Bianco anticipated an financial profit from important public publicity through the band’s worldwide tour and the chance to proceed working with the extremely sought-after inventive director who oversaw the undertaking.”
![Esme Bianco](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/01/25/21/Sexual_Misconduct-Marilyn_Manson_80586.jpg)
After discovering Bianco was concerned with the undertaking, the movement claims that Manson – actual title Brian Warner – contacted the band to “confront them over Deftones’ resolution to work with Ms Bianco”.
It additional claims that Warner “used his energy and affect within the leisure trade to intrude with Ms Bianco’s capability to proceed working with Deftones”.
Bianco has alleged that this interference resulted in “reputational harm” and “lack of future financial alternative” with Deftones.
The lawsuit between Bianco and Manson was finally settled in January this 12 months. The precise phrases of the settlement are unknown.
30 January 2023 – Manson is sued for alleged sexual assault of a minor
An nameless lady alleged in a submitting this 12 months that Manson groomed and sexually assaulted her quite a few instances within the Nineties when she was underage.
She alleged that she and a bunch of different folks had been ready outdoors Manson’s tour bus to satisfy him when he invited her “and one of many different youthful women” onto the bus. She alleges he requested them their age, grade in class and wrote down their cellphone numbers and residential addresses.
“Whereas on the tour bus, Defendant Warner carried out varied acts of legal sexual conduct upon Plaintiff, who was a virgin on the time, together with however not restricted to compelled copulation and vaginal penetration,” the lawsuit learn.
“Plaintiff was in ache, scared, upset, humiliated and confused. After he was performed, Defendant Warner laughed at her. … Then Defendant Warner demanded Plaintiff to ‘get the f*** off of my bus’ and threatened Plaintiff that, if she instructed anybody, he would kill her and her household.”
In an announcement to The Unbiased, King responded to the newest lawsuit, saying Warner “doesn’t know this particular person and has no recollection of ever having met her 28 years in the past”.
“He actually was by no means intimate together with her. She has been buying her fabricated story to tabloids and on podcasts for greater than two years. However even essentially the most minimal quantity of scrutiny reveals the plain discrepancies in her ever-shifting tales in addition to her intensive collusion with different false accusers,” King added.
“Brian is not going to undergo this shakedown – and the courts gained’t fall for it both.”
![Manson standing with his attorney as he is sentenced to community service in 2023](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/09/18/19/MARILYN_MANSON_39895.jpg)
18 September 2023 – Manson sentenced to group service after blowing his nostril on a videographer
Manson was sentenced to twenty hours of group service and a high-quality of over $1,400 after pleading no contest to blowing his nostril on a videographer at a 2019 live performance in New Hampshire. He was charged with two misdemeanor counts of easy assault stemming from the encounter. In line with a police affidavit, Manson approached videographer Susan Fountain, put his face near her digicam and spit a “large lougee” at her. Fountain mentioned through an announcement that it “essentially the most disgusting factor a human being may have performed.”
28 September 2023 – Manson settles rape lawsuit filed by Jane Doe
Every week earlier than the trial was set to start, Manson reached a settlement with the nameless ex-girlfriend who had claimed he subjected her to “degrading acts of sexual exploitation, manipulation and psychological abuse”.
Manson’s legal professional hailed the outcome as a victory, whereas the Jane Doe accuser instructed Rolling Stone in an announcement: “I used to be totally ready for trial and by no means in one million years thought I might ever settle, however over the previous two-and-a-half years I’ve silently endured threats, bullying, harassment and varied types of intimidation which have intensified over the previous few weeks.”
26 November 2024 – Manson agrees to pay Wooden’s authorized charges after dropping defamation lawsuit
Manson drops a defamation lawsuit he introduced in opposition to Evan Rachel Wooden over her accusations that he “horrifically” abused and groomed her throughout their time collectively. Manson additionally agreed to pay Wooden $327,000 in authorized charges.
In an announcement to The Unbiased, Wooden’s lawyer Michael Kump mentioned Manson had little alternative however to drop his lawsuit after “the court docket granted Wooden’s movement, ruling that Manson’s claims lack advantage and gutting his lawsuit.”
14 January 2025 – Three-part documentary about Manson allegations airs within the UK
The three-part docuseries Marilyn Manson: Unmasked is about to be broadcast by the UK’s Channel 4 on January 14, 15 and 16. In line with the synopsis, the movies will “unravel the stunning story of considered one of rock music’s most polarising figures. From his meteoric rise because the self-proclaimed ‘Antichrist Famous person’ to the chilling abuse allegations which have engulfed his profession”.
Rape Disaster provides assist for these affected by rape and sexual abuse. You possibly can name them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Eire, or go to their web site at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. In case you are within the US, you possibly can name Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)