Brian Warner, the musician known as Marilyn Manson, issued a rebuttal Monday night to multiple accusations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse levied against him by actress and ex-girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood and other women.
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” Wood wrote on Instagram Monday. “He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. 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 the many victims who will no longer be silent.” Wood has long spoken out about her relationship with an abusive partner, but Monday marked the first time she named Warner as her alleged abuser.
Four other women came forward with similar stories about Warner. “He would tie me up for the first of many times and rape me,” alleged a woman named Gabriella. “I sobbed on the floor of the hotel room and when I looked at him, he was smiling. He told me he knew that’s how I loved him because of my reaction.”
“There was abuse, sexual violence, physical violence and coercion. I still feel the affects every day. I have night terrors, PTSD, anxiety and mostly crippling OCD,” wrote another accuser Ashley Morgan. “He made me feel like him cutting me, burning me, his fist in my mouth was ‘our thing.’ There is so much more that happened.”
Warner addressed the allegations Monday night via Instagram. “Obviously, my art and life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality.” Warner wrote on Instagram. “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.”
In the wake of the allegations, Manson’s current record label, Loma Vista Recordings, issued a statement Monday dropping the artist from the label. “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,” the label said. “Due to these concerning developments, we have also decided not to work with Marilyn Manson on any future projects.”
AMC Networks, the owner of the network Shudder that was set to show Warner as an actor in the upcoming Creepshow anthology, told Vanity Fair that they would not show the segment following Monday’s allegations.
From Rolling Stone US
