Evan Rachel Woods Says Marilyn Manson Raped Her ‘On Camera’ in New Documentary
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Evan Rachel Wood has spoken out about the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of Marilyn Manson, saying that he raped her “on-camera” while filming a music video.
In the first part of Phoenix Rising, the HBO documentary on Wood’s life, the actress details the alleged abuse by her ex-fiance Manson, whom she was in a relationship with as a teenager.
In the film, which premiered at the virtual 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, Wood says that Manson, whose legal name is Brian Hugh Warner, “essentially raped” her on-camera while shooting a music video.
The alleged incident took place on the set of Manson’s 2007 music video for “Heart-Shaped Glasses,” when Wood was 19 and Manson was 38-years-old.
Wood is shown wearing Lolita-style heart-shaped glasses in the video, at one point having sex with Manson while they’re covered in fake blood.
“We had discussed a simulated sex scene, but once the cameras were rolling, he started penetrating me for real. I had never agreed to that,” Wood says in the documentary.
“I did not feel safe. No one was looking after me. It was a really traumatizing experience, filming the video. I didn’t know how to advocate for myself or know how to say no because I had been conditioned and trained to never talk back, to just soldier through. I felt disgusting and like I had done something shameful, and I could tell that the crew was very uncomfortable and nobody knew what to do.”
Wood had previously discussed the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse she suffered in a relationship years ago, naming Manson as her alleged abuser in 2021.
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “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.”
Manson has previously denied Wood’s claims, releasing a statement through his attorney on the allegation:
[Warner] vehemently denies any and all claims of sexual assault or abuse of anyone. These lurid claims against my client have three things in common — they are all false, alleged to have taken place more than a decade ago and part of a coordinated attack by former partners and associates of Mr. Warner who have weaponized the otherwise mundane details of his personal life and their consensual relationships into fabricated horror stories.
