Evan Rachel Wood – the actor, singer and activist – claimed that Marilyn Manson is the person she referred to over the years when she spoke of being a survivor of domestic violence. Wood and Manson’s relationship became known in 2007 when she was 19 and he was 38. They became engaged in 2010 but divorced later that year.
Wood said in an Instagram post and in a statement to Vanity Fair on Monday morning: ‘The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known as Marilyn Manson. He started caring for me when I was a teenager and abused me horribly for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I already live in fear of retaliation, slander or extortion. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him before he destroys more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent. ”
Wood began speaking in a 2016 Rolling Stone article about a survivor of rape and domestic violence, and focused her activism on these issues. In 2019, Wood enacted the Phoenix Act, a bill that extends the statute of limitations on domestic violence to five years out of three. Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, signed the bill in October 2019 and it went into effect in January 2020. Wood testified before the California Senate at the time that her abuser had hidden his drug and alcohol addiction from her, and ‘had attacks of extreme jealousy, which would often lead to him destroying our house, threatening and threatening me in a room in a corner. ”
‘“I mustered the courage to leave several times, but he would call my house incessantly and threaten to kill himself,” Wood said at the time. ‘On one occasion I returned to try to defuse the situation; he turned me into a corner in our bedroom and asked me to kneel. Then he tied me to my hands and feet. After I was restrained again, he hit me and shocked sensitive parts of my body with a torture device called a violin. For him, it was a way to prove my loyalty. The pain was annoying. It felt like I had left my body and part of me was dying that day. ‘
In the fall, Wood said Variety, “When I started being an activist, I really asked myself, where do I even start? The place where I usually start, because I feel like I’m going to do the most good, are the places where I have direct experience. I think that’s why I’ve done so much about domestic violence and sexual assault. ”
Because of Wood’s public comments, which narrowed the timing of these alleged incidents, journalists and the public wondered if he was the person Wood was talking about. ‘Why is no one talking about Marilyn Manson’s ‘Fantasy’ to kill Evan Rachel Wood? ‘read a Glamor headline in March 2018 – the piece pointed out that Manson once said in an interview about Wood in 2009:’I have fantasies every day about hitting her skull with a sledgehammer. ‘
And last fall, Manson ended an interview with British music magazine Metal Hammer when the author revealed Wood’s name. Later, Manson issued a lengthy statement denying he was wrong.