Marilyn Manson dropped his defamation lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood and agreed to pay her $327,000 in legal fees, according to legal documents obtained by Bulletin boardofficially ending a case the shock rocker first filed against his ex-girlfriend two and a half years ago.
Filed in March 2022, the lawsuit accused Wood of conspiring with another woman, Ashley Gore, to falsely portray Manson (real name Brian Warner) as a “rapist and abuser” to the public. Both women appeared in the 2022 documentary Phoenix Risingin which Wood detailed her allegations of sexual abuse against the singer. The lawsuit alleged that both women “secretly recruited, coordinated, and pressured potential accusers to come forward simultaneously with rape and abuse allegations against Manson, and brazenly claimed that it took 10 years or more for them to 'realize' that their consensual relationships with Warner were allegedly abusive. .”
However, Manson's lawsuit suffered a major blow in May 2023 after a judge largely sided with Wood in her motion to dismiss it citing California's anti-SLAPP statute, which makes it easier for judges to dismiss cases that threaten the freedom of speech. In that ruling, the judge threw out much of Manson's case after finding that the rocker had not shown that he would ultimately be able to prove many of his accusations against Wood. Manson appealed that decision last August.
“Marilyn Manson — whose real name is Brian Warner — filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career,” Wood's attorney said. Michael J. Kump said in a statement sent to Bulletin board. “But his attempt to silence and intimidate Mrs Wood failed. As the trial court correctly found, Warner's allegations were without merit. Warner's decision to permanently drop his lawsuit and pay Ms. Wood the full amount of her fee of nearly $327,000 confirms as much.”
In his own statement, Manson's lawyer Howard King said, “After a 4-year battle where he was able to tell the truth, Brian is pleased to dismiss his pending claims and appeal in order to close the door on this chapter of his life.”
The public battle between Manson and Wood began in February 2021, when Wood claimed in an Instagram post that Manson “started grooming me when I was a teenager and horribly abused me for years.” In addition to Wood's accusations, Manson has received multiple sexual harassment lawsuits in recent years from women including former assistant Ashley Walters, model Ashley Morgan Smithline, Game of Thrones actress Esme Bianco and two Jane Doe accusers.
Most of these cases are no longer active. In May 2022, a judge dismissed Walters' lawsuit, citing the statute of limitations. Manson subsequently settled with both Bianco and one of Jane Doe's accusers, while Smithline recanted her allegations and claimed that Wood and others had “manipulated” her into bringing them.
Manson has denied all the charges against him.
