Evan Rachel Wood has previously spoken out on multiple occasions about being the survivor of abuse and rape without naming her abuser(s). In 2016, she revealed during a Rolling Stone interview, “I’ve been raped. By a significant other while we were together. And on a separate occasion, by the owner of a bar.” She followed up on the subject at least twice while testifying in front of lawmakers to pass survivor-geared legislation (more on that below), and on Monday morning, she posted to Instagram to directly identify ex-partner Marilyn Manson as her alleged abuser.
Wood and Manson went public with their relationship in 2007. At the time, she was 19 years old, and he was 38, and their relationship included an engagement (in 2010) before they split. In her Instagram post, Wood accuses Manson of “grooming” and “horrifically abusing” her over the course of their relationship:
“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. 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.”
As of this writing, Marilyn Manson has not responded to Wood’s Instagram post. Previously in 2020, his representatives issued a lengthy statement (via NME) that denied all allegations of abuse against him. That statement arrived after Manson reportedly hung up during a phone interview with Metal Injection when asked about Wood.
As noted previously, Wood spoke about her previous experiences as a survivor without naming an alleged abuser. Following her Rolling Stone interview, she headed to Capitol Hill to do so, and in 2018, she testified in front of Congress in support of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act. While speaking to the House Judiciary Committee, she declared of the abuse, “It started slow but escalated over time, including threats against my life, severe gaslighting and brainwashing, [and] waking up to the man that claimed to love me raping what he believed to be my unconscious body.”
In 2019, Wood followed up on her previous statements while testifying in front of the California Senate Public Safety Committee in support of the Phoenix Bill (to expand the rights of domestic abuse survivors). During a detailed account, Wood declared that her unnamed abuser “beat me and shocked sensitive parts of my body with a torture device called a violet wand.” She continued: “The pain was excruciating. It felt like I left my body and a part of me died that day.”
In response to Wood’s Monday Instagram post, four other women (as discussed by Vanity Fair) have come forward against Manson with allegations of abuse against him. And last week, Wood seemed to suggest that she was preparing a statement of some sort while referencing the 1986 Jim Henson film, Labyrinth. In doing so, she quoted the words of Jennifer Connelly’s teen character while she took back her power from David Bowie’s Goblin King: “Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle, beyond the goblin city, to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours… And my kingdom is as great…”