A little over five years after she accused her ex, Marilyn Manson, of abusing her during their time together, Evan Rachel Wood says she is still dealing with the harassment that came with the situation.
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During her recent interview with The Times, the actress reflected on her four-and-a-half-year relationship with Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner. She said that the dynamic between her and her ex was “very much the same [as a cult] and the tactics and the aftermath can be very much the same.”
“[Manson] is more of a malignant narcissist, more of a cult leader,” she said. “HIs circle, his sphere, it operated very much like a culture.”
Wood further stated that her coming forward not only left her open to repercussions from Manson himself, but also his devoted fans.
“You’re up against an entire system,” she continued. “Which makes it twice as hard to leave and twice as scary to speak out.”
The actress then revealed she was still facing intimidation and harassment. “There’s a lot of intimidation that comes with that — trying to keep you quiet or to blackmail you, to ruin your reputation, to hack into your electronics,” she noted. “I still get followed by cars. I still have phishing attempts on my computer.”
Wood also pointed out, “I still have numbers calling me over and over again.”
The Former Couple Dated in the 2000s
The actress and the rocker first made their relationship public in 2007. They got engaged in 2010 but ended the relationship less than a year later.
Years after the split, Wood opened up about an ex sexually assaulting her. However, she didn’t reveal the ex’s identity, Manson, until 2021. She further claimed that Manson had groomed her as a teenager and “horrifically abused” her for years. The actress shared further details about the abuse in the 2022 HBO documentary Phoenix Rising.
Manson responded to the allegations by denying them and then filed a defamation lawsuit against Wood. However, the lawsuit was dropped in 2024, and Manson agreed to pay Wood’s legal fees.
Along with Wood, four other women – model Sarah McNeilly, former model Ashley Lindsay Morgan, Manson’s former personal assistant Ashley Walters, and actress Esmé Bianco – came forward with their own allegations against Manson.
The rocker responded to the claims, referring to them as “horrible distortions of reality.”
In early 2025, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced prosecutors did not think it could prove charges of sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt. This was due to the statute of limitations running out on the domestic violence allegations.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.