Brian Warner, more commonly known as “Marilyn Manson,” has faced a series of lawsuits and allegations in recent years, alleging that he has mentally, physically, and sexually abused various women, including former partners.
The most notorious among these allegations were brought forth by actress Evan Rachel Wood, who was in a romantic relationship with Manson from 2006 to 2010. The pair were engaged but broke it off in 2010. Wood made references to abuse she had sustained from a bar owner and a famous figure who she explained she was too afraid to name in an op-ed for Rolling Stone in 2016.
She even testified before congress about the abuse she experienced to amend California’s statute of limitations on reporting abuse. It wasn’t until 2021 that Wood finally named her abuser as Brian Warner (Marilyn Manson) in an announcement on Instagram, along with four other women who made very similar allegations, all on the same day.
These women included Ashley Walters, Ashley Morgan Smithline, Sarah McNeilly, and an unidentified Jane Doe. Several women have also filed lawsuits against Manson for very serious allegations of abuse and assault, including Game of Thrones Actress Esmé Bianco.
Ashley Morgan Smithline Claims She Was Manipulated to Make False Accusations Against Marilyn Manson
Ashley Morgan Smithline’s case was dropped after parting ways with her attorney. She was given a 90-day grace period to find new representation but failed to do so, resulting in her case being thrown out. However, Page Six reports that Smithline has now said in a legal filing that Evan Rachel Wood manipulated her into making false allegations against Manson.
“I succumbed to pressure from Evan Rachel Wood and her associates to make accusations of rape and assault against [Manson] that were not true,” she said in the declaration obtained by Page Six.
Smithline claims that one of the women [Walters or Gore] contacted her in 2020 and asked her to participate in group meetings with fellow victims. Though Smithline told these women that she had not been physically or sexually assaulted by Manson, she claims Wood suggested that she could have repressed memories.
Smithline claims that even though she knew these events never happened at first, she began to question her reality after a while and allowed Gore to draft and post a statement on Smithline’s Instagram, falsely proclaiming she was a victim of violence and non-consensual sexual activity. The statement made mention of Smithline’s repressed memories.
Several other of Manson’s accusers have claimed to have repressed memories. The anonymous Jane Doe that came forward on the same day as these women on Instagram also said, “I blocked out a lot of the memories, but the feelings remain and manifest in various ways.” Fellow accuser Ashley Walters amended her lawsuit against Manson to include that she had repressed memories of sexual abuse and battery at the hands of Manson.
During her testimony for The Phoenix Act, Accuser Esmé Bianco spoke about her own experience of abuse with Manson: “In order for a person to survive traumatic events, especially those that continue over a number of years, the brain normalizes the horrific truth. In such situations, you are biologically incapable of grasping the true nature of these horrendous acts.” She also said it took her seven years to recognize what was done to her was domestic violence.
Smithline claims that Bianco had a lawyer and that she suggested that Smithline use him. After drafting a statement, Smithline alleges her attorney Jay Ellwanger, who also represented Bianco, filed it without reviewing it or offering Smithline a draft to review and that he pressured her to go on a press tour publicizing her allegations.
This included an interview on The View and a cover spread in People Magazine. Shortly after that is when Smithline says she fired Ellwanger. Her declaration states, “Looking back, I feel I was manipulated by Ms. Wood, Ms. Gore, Ms. Bianco, and Mr. Ellwanger to spread publicly false accusations of abuse against Mr. Warner.” Smithline adds that she has not received any money from Manson and is not seeking any.
Numerous Problems With Lawsuits Filed Against Marilyn Manson
Over a dozen women have made accusations against Brian Warner, aka Marilyn Manson. However, not all of them have filed lawsuits against him. Ashley Morgan Smithline, Ashley Walters, Esmé Bianco, and an anonymous Jane Doe all filed lawsuits against Manson, but three of these were dismissed, with the exception of Bianco, who ended up settling with Manson.
Smithline’s case was dropped after she parted ways with her legal counsel and didn’t find new representation within the 90-day grace period, Now, Smithline alleges that everything she said in her statement and in her lawsuit was false and she has no intention of ever pursuing criminal charges, according to her new declaration.
Manson’s former assistant, Ashley Walters’ suit, was dismissed because the statute of limitations expired. This case was dismissed with prejudice, which prohibits her from refiling. The Jane Doe case that alleged Manson raped her was also dismissed because the alleged rape occurred outside of the two-year statute of limitations.
The judge ruled that her allegations of the repressed memories were “not sufficient” to invoke the “delayed-discovery” rule and gave her the opportunity to amend and refile her complaint within 20 days. The woman has since refiled.
In 2019, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office declined to file sexual assault charges against Manson because the alleged 2011 incidents occurred outside of the statute of limitations, but the office also added that there was an absence of corroboration.
Most recently, an anonymous Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against Manson for raping her as a minor. That case is still in development.
While many of these women have shown solidarity with each other, one woman by the name of Greta Aurora has a different story. Aurora had a short sexual relationship with Manson when she was 19 but insisted that their weekend together was entirely consensual and that Manson was “a gentleman” who showed care and concern for her safety and comfort.
She claims that Ilma Gore attempted to entice her into joining the group of women that made public allegations against Manson by mentioning her connection with famous actress Evan Rachel Wood.
Gore is Wood’s ex-girlfriend, and the two have accused Manson of domestic violence, rape, anti-semitism, and psychological torment. Gore reached out to Aurora through an official Phoenix Act email address in October 2020, asking if she would like to meet up with fellow women who may have had similar experiences.
Aurora was contacted twice through this email, both times mentioning The Phoenix Act and her relation to Evan Rachel Wood. Gore never responded.
A Federal Investigation on Manson Has Been Hush for Years
After a series of allegations against the rock star, an investigation was launched against Manson by the LA Sheriff’s Department. The investigation looked into allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault that were alleged to have occurred between 2009 to 2011.
His home was searched, and all of his devices were seized, but two years later, no charges have been brought forth despite pressure from actress Evan Rachel Wood. Wood has repeatedly taken to Instagram to encourage her followers to place public pressure on the LASD and LADA to release updates on the status of the investigation.
The LA Sheriff’s Department handed the case over to the Los Angeles District Attorney in September of 2022 after completing a 19-month investigation. There have been no further updates on the case besides DA George Gascón claiming that they received only a partial file and that some additional material is needed before it can be reviewed.
Gascón added that they don’t have a timeline for the additional submission from the LASD. The public nature of this investigation is highly unusual for a case of this nature. Law & Crime Network’s Angenette Levy discussed the updates on the investigation with reporter Meghann Cuniff.
Both say it’s unusual for a District Attorney to comment on an ongoing criminal investigation that his office had yet to receive. Gascón, unconventionally, provided updates on the investigation to Instagram when a user asked how the case was developing. Gascón commented that at the time, Manson was still under investigation by the LASD and the case hadn’t been submitted to the DA Office.
He reassured the user that they are requesting regular updates on the status of the investigation and that they’re committed to investing in trauma-informed care for all victims. Gascón added, “once we have received the case, it will be carefully evaluated by an experienced prosecutor to determine if it is appropriate to file charges at this time. We are hopeful that the LASD will present the case to us sometime this month.”
Criminal defense attorney Andrea Burkhart says criminal investigations like this are not normally played out in public because they don’t have to be – investigations are exempt from public records disclosure.
This prevents the press from getting a hold of police reports and reporting on their findings, making the DA’s office look bad. Burkhart believes that we’re only hearing about this case because they’re choosing to tell us – but why?
Levy, Cuniff, and Burkhart all believe it comes down to political posturing. Regardless of what they do or don’t have on Manson, they say Gascón is under serious pressure to present himself as someone who will be tougher on crime. Gascón presents himself as as a progressive DA, but was almost subject to a recall election for being soft on crime.
Manson Is Already Suing Evan Rachel Wood & Ilma Gore
After Evan Rachel Wood and her ex-girlfriend Ilma Gore alleged that Manson raped, abused, and threatened to kill Wood during their relationship, Manson filed a lawsuit countering them. That lawsuit alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation per se, violation of the comprehensive computer data and access fraud act, and impersonation over the internet.
In Manson’s filing, he submits a whole host of allegations against Wood & Gore, namely that they conspired with other women to make up fraudulent abuse allegations, coordinating their stories and even writing scripts that the women were to follow.
One of the allegations includes the impersonation of a federal agent. Manson claims that Wood and Gore fabricated an FBI letter from a division that doesn’t appear to exist to create the illusion that he was being investigated by the FBI.
Wood cited this letter in a custody dispute with her ex and the father of her child Jamie Bell, who disputed her claims’ legitimacy. Bell suggested that it was a convenient way for her to relocate her son to Nashville, preventing Bell from seeing his son.
Manson also claims that Gore hacked into his computer, phone, and email and even created a fake email that would make it look like Manson was sending pornography to people. Among the allegations, Manson also says that Gore “swatted” him, sending police to his property under false pretenses of a “wellness check.”
In reality, Manson claims, her true objective was to draw national attention to Manson and the allegations made against him as well as legitimize Gore and Wood’s claims that there was a federal investigation on Manson. Gore had to submit to a deposition in October.
Ilma Gore’s identical twin sister Bryton Gore submitted a declaration on behalf of Manson, stating that she witnessed [Ilma] Gore and Wood forge the FBI letter that indicated there was a federal criminal investigation against Manson. In her declaration, Bryton states that she witnessed conversations between Gore and Wood discussing how they were forging the FBI letter, altering what it said, and forging the signature from an FBI agent.
She also states that she had access to the drafts of the letter through the iPad that previously belonged to her twin sister but was later left in her possession. Bryton says she witnessed Ilma use the Procreate application (a graphics editing tool) to transfer a signature from one document onto what appeared to be a letter from a federal law enforcement agent.
Is Rose McGowan Backtracking on Her Support of Evan Rachel Wood?
When Wood and other accusers first came forward with their accusations against Manson, Rose McGowan, a famous actress known for her #MeToo activism and an alleged victim of Harvey Weinstein, showed solidarity with these women.
McGowan stated that even though she never experienced abuse at the hands of Manson during their 3 ½ year relationship and engagement, that didn’t invalidate other women’s stories.
McGowan, who has not been shy about her experiences with abuse from various men in the entertainment industry, posted this statement to her socials: “I am profoundly sad today and disgusted, but I am mostly proud. Proud of Evan Rachel Wood and the others who have come forward against Marilyn Manson, my ex.” While the post is still up on Instagram, it’s since been deleted from her Twitter account.
McGowan also posted to Twitter, “I stand with Evan Rachel Wood and other brave women who have come forward. It takes years to recover from abuse and I send them strength on their journey to recovery. Let the truth be revealed. Let the healing begin.” This post has since been deleted.
It’s unclear if McGowan has suddenly had a change of heart in her support of Manson’s accusers, but she did have a conversation on a Twitter space with anti-human trafficking advocate Eliza Bleu a month ago, where she spoke about how she was “viciously bullied” by Wood’s supporters.
Again, she reiterated that the accusations against Manson don’t reflect her personal experience. She added that while she hates when people use their experiences with a figure and cite that they weren’t abused by a person, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t abusive to others. However, McGowan said that she “doesn’t know, because she wasn’t there” and “of course, not everybody will be telling the truth; that’s another component.”
She went on, “that’s extremely hard to deal with for me just psychologically because I don’t understand why anyone would ever want to wear that mantle if it’s not, in fact, true. I can’t psychologically grasp why you would want that attention.” After these new accusations by Smithline, Wood will likely face more PR trouble, and her credibility will be under a microscope.
Closing Thoughts
This case continues to produce new twists and turns with every passing month. Numerous women have accused Marilyn Manson of horrifically violent and non-consensual sexual acts.
However, of the women who have sought legal action against him, many of their cases have been thrown out either because of the statute of limitations or lack of evidence.
Manson is still fighting lawsuits against him, but the singer is likely consolidating his efforts on his lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood and Ilma Gore, which could take a few years to go to court.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.