Marilyn Manson has filed a lawsuit against actor , andformer girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood regarding her claims that he raped her during their relationship less than two months before Wood will star in an HBO documentary.
Manson, a goth singer who is actually Brian Warner, filed a lawsuit against Wood and another woman at Los Angeles County Superior Court Wednesday. They are accused of having "secretly recruited and coordinated with potential accusers" and of "pressured them into submissions." Ashley "Illma” Gore was also named in the lawsuit. She worked with Wood to push for legislation for victims of abuse.
Wood representatives did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Manson's suit asks for a jury trial and accuses Wood of inflicting emotional distress. Gore is accused of defamation and impersonation via the internet.
Wood stated before a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on sexual abuse in 2018, that she was raped twice, once by her abusive partner and again by a man hiding in a bar's storage closet. She did not identify her alleged abusers at the time.
In an Instagram post from last year, she accused Manson "grooming" her as a teenager and claimed he "horrifically abuses me for years."
Wood's claims were addressed by Manson on Instagram in February. He stated that his art and life have "long been magnets for controversy", but that the recent allegations about him are "horrible distortions of reality."
He said, "My intimate relationships with like-minded people have always been completely consensual." "Regardless of the reasons or how they choose to misrepresent the past now, this is the truth.
In a tweet on Thursday morning, Gore reiterated Manson’s February statement. This was apparently in reference to the lawsuit.
She wrote, "Obviously, my art, and my life, have always been magnets of controversy. But these recent claims about my reality are terrible distortions of reality."
Manson claims that Wood and Gore conspired with her for months to coordinate allegations in a documentary called "Phoenix Rising," due to be released by HBO on March 15.
The lawsuit states that "that same day, several other women assisted and coordinated Wood and/or Gore sought media attention with remarkably comparable public abuse allegations against Warner." "These claims, similar to Wood's, are false."
Manson was not charged with any crime related to Wood's allegations.
Howard King, the Manson lawyer, claimed in a statement that the women forging a letter impersonating an FBI agent, and that they were investigating Manson. Wood and Gore were accused of using the letter as a recruiting tool to get other women to make accusations and persuade HBO not to publish their documentary.
The alleged letter is attached to the lawsuit and has been seen on NBC News. It does not include an FBI logo. It states that Wood is a key witness to a criminal investigation involving "well-known public figures," but does not name Manson. Although the original letter has been redacted, it seems to have contained the email address of someone from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
NBC News received no comment from the FBI. The FBI declined to comment on NBC News' request for additional information about the letter or its investigation into Manson.
King stated that HBO and its producers were made aware of the serious misconduct but they chose to ignore the facts. "But, the evidence of wrongdoing committed by Wood and Gore are irrefutable -- this legal action will hold them accountable."
HBO declined to comment.
Gore is also accused of contacting women saying that she was working with Wood in domestic abuse advocacy. She was organizing a meeting of women who may have experienced similar situations. According to the lawsuit, she then sent women a "checklist of abusive acts" in order to make sure that all allegations were coordinated.
Manson also claimed that Gore hacked his email and social media accounts in order to access personal information and private conversations. Gore claims that Ashley Walters, his ex-assistant, gave him information to gain access to his account.
Walters was represented by a law firm, which denied the allegation and stated in a statement that Walters had not disclosed sensitive or private information.
According to the statement, Ashley met Illma only years after she quit working for Marilyn Manson. "This is the latest attempt to intimidate survivors who speak out against abusers.
According to the lawsuit, she accused Warner of slandering him to the women with whom she spoke to to "orchestrate false accusations against Warner" and thus support Wood's claim to have been her (and other's) abuser.
Manson's house was searched by police and "media storage devices" were taken by them in November. This was part of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department probe into domestic abuse and assault allegations. NBC Los Angeles reported at that time. The sheriff's office said the investigation was still ongoing.
Questions about the progress of the investigation were not answered by the office of the district attorney.
Last year, a judge dismissed a suit filed against Manson, by a woman who chose to remain anonymous. It was concluded that the statute of limitations had expired. Three other women are still suing him.
Esme bianco, actor in "Game of Thrones", sued Manson in April. He claimed that he had committed multiple sexual assaults and other abuses between 2009 and 2013.
Walters, then-assistant , charged him with sexual exploitation and emotional abuse in May. Walters was ordered by a judge to amend her last week filing in response to Manson's request to dismiss the case under the statute of limitations.
In June, Ashley Morgan Smithline, a model , sued Manson for sexual assault, sexual battery, and human trafficking.
Manson has denied all sexual assault and abuse allegations.
