The actress of the series "Westworlds" revealed in a documentary that the events occurred in 2007, when she was only 19 years old and appeared in the video for the song "Heart-Shaped Glasses"
In early 2021, Evan Rachel Wood publicly accused Marilyn Manson of abusing her in the past. And now, the American actress gave more details of her traumatic experience and revealed that in 2007, the singer r-ped her during the recording of the video clip "Heart-Shaped Glasses", which both starred in.
The interpreter made these accusations in the first part of the documentary Phoenix Rising, which premiered on the night of Sunday, January 23 at the Sundance Film Festival.
In the audiovisual piece, directed by Amy Berg, Wood tells how hard it was for her to grow up as a child star in the midst of the chaos of Hollywood; but in addition, it narrates how Marilyn Manson abused her physically and psychologically during her three-year relationship.
In one of the most heartbreaking sequences of the documentary, the Westworld actress recalled how the musician r-ped her during the video clip for the song "Heart-Shaped Glasses", in which she was the main actress of her. She said that when negotiating the contract she was told that there was a simulated s-x scene, and she accepted. However, when she started filming, the reality was different.
“It was not at all how I thought it was going to be. We did things that were not what they had proposed to me. We had talked about a simulated s-x scene, but when the cameras started rolling he started to really penetrate me. I would never have agreed to that. I'm a professional actress, I've been doing this all my life. I had never been on such an unprofessional set until that day, ”explained the famous woman in the documentary, according to the Pitchfork newspaper.
Evan Rachel Wood began in the cinema in 1997, with only nine years. At that age, she filmed the movie Digging to China, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In 2003, at the age of 15, she received a second nomination for her role in Thirteen. And just three years later, in 2006, she met Marilyn Manson at a party in Los Angeles.
The couple announced their relationship in 2007, the year Heart-Shaped Glasses was filmed. She never agreed to film a real s-x scene, but when the assault happened, she didn't know how to react or defend herself. According to her account, in Phoenix Rising she felt vulnerable, alone and unprotected. She was 19 years old and he was 38.
“It was total chaos and I didn't feel safe. Nobody was caring about me. I didn't know how to stand up for myself or how to say no, because I had been conditioned and trained to never respond, just move on. I felt gross, like I had done something shameful and I realized that the team was very uncomfortable and nobody knew what to do. I was forced to perform a commercial s-x act under false pretenses. That's when the first crime was committed against me and I was basically r-ped on camera," Wood said.
The first time that Evan Rachel Wood dared to publicly denounce the rock singer was in 2021. She did it through an Instagram post in which she confessed that she was tired of living in fear.
“My abuser's name is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started stalking me when I was a teenager and horribly abused me for years,” the 34-year-old American actress wrote.
“I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I will no longer live in fear of reprisals, insults or extortion. I am here to expose this dangerous man and the many industries that enabled his behavior before he ruins more lives. All my support to the many victims who will no longer be silent,” she continued.
Around the same time, four other women posted similar statements on Instagram. They are Ashley Walters, Sarah McNeilly, Ashley Lindsay Morgan and a woman who gave her name only as Gabriella.
The actress also shared a screenshot of a February 2018 article in which Dr. House actress Charlyne Yi accused Manson of harassing multiple women while visiting the set of the Fox network drama.
In her statements, they detailed harrowing experiences that they say included s-xual assault, psychological abuse, and/or various forms of coercion, violence, and intimidation.
Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson were in a relationship for three years, from 2007 to 2010. Before they split, they were engaged for eight months. In recent years, the actress has actively fought to reform California law to extend the statute of limitations for domestic violence crimes from three to five years. The change was confirmed in 2019 and became effective in 2020.
In the middle of that process, in 2018, the famous shared her testimony in front of a court. She confirmed that she was a victim of gender-based violence, but did not make the name of the aggressor public.
“(The abuses) started small, but escalated over time, including threats against my life and psychological attacks. The man who said he loved me r-ped me believing he was unconscious. [...] [My abuser] tied my hands and feet to be tortured mentally and physically, until I felt that my love for him had been proven... As I was tied up and beaten he told me 'I could kill you right now '. I felt that my body was leaving me and I was too afraid to run away, ”she recounted in front of the court.
Manson's representatives have not issued a statement responding to Wood's new allegations, but they have categorically denied similar allegations in the past.
This happened for example in 2020, when they talked about some statements the metal artist made in an interview with Spin in 2009. He then said that he had fantasized about breaking Wood's arm with a sledgehammer and said that on Christmas day 2008 called her 158 times and hung up every time.
“Every time I called her that day, I took a razor blade and cut myself on her face or hands. I wanted to show her the pain that she put me through. It was like, I want you to physically see what you've done."
In 2020, Metal Hammer magazine asked Manson's publicist about comments the celebrity made in 2009. The rep said it was "theatrical" fantasies and not actual desire.
“The comments on Spin where Manson had a fantasy of using a sledgehammer against Evan and cutting himself 158 times was obviously a theatrical interview of a rock star promoting a new album, and not a factual account. The fact that Evan and Manson became engaged six months after this interview would indicate that no one took this story literally," the rep said.
The first part of Phoenix Rising will premiere in March on HBO, and in the documentary, Wood will recall other terrifying scenes from her life with Manson.
