Marilyn Manson agrees to pay Evan Rachel Wood $330k after dropping defamation lawsuit

Marilyn Manson has agreed to drop a defamation lawsuit he brought against his former partner Evan Rachel Wood after she accused him of “horrifically” abusing and “grooming” her during their relationship.

Manson will pay Wood $327,000 in legal fees.

The goth rock musician and the actor were together from 2007, when Wood was 18, to 2010. Manson is 18 years her senior.

Wood named Manson as her abuser for the first time on social media in 2021, and he subsequently sued her for defamation. She had previously told a Congressional committee that she had been raped and repeatedly abused but did not name Manson at that time.

In a statement to The Independent, Michael Kump, partner at Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir and lead counsel for Wood, said: “Marilyn Manson—whose real name is Brian Warner—is giving up his lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood and has agreed to reimburse Wood nearly $327,000 for her attorneys’ fees.

“By the time she named Manson as her abuser, Wood was already a longtime advocate for survivors of abuse. Wood had testified before Congress and the California Senate in support of legislation to expand survivor’s rights and extend the statute of limitations for domestic violence.”

In 2023, LA Superior Court threw out much of Manson’s case against Wood.

Kump added: “Manson’s lawsuit accused Wood of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging that they orchestrated a campaign to cast him as a rapist and destroy his career.

“Wood responded by seeking to strike the bulk of Manson’s lawsuit under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which permits defendants to request early dismissal of claims that arise from the exercise of their First Amendment rights. Last year, the court granted Wood’s motion, ruling that Manson’s claims lack merit and gutting his lawsuit.”

After Wood went public with her allegations about Manson, more than a dozen other women came forward with similar accusations against the musician. Manson has consistently denied sexually assaulting or abusing anyone, claiming that his “intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners”.

In April 2021, Game of Thrones actor Esmé Bianco brought a federal lawsuit against Manson claiming that he violated human trafficking laws by bringing her to California from England under the false pretences of roles in music videos and movies that never materialised.

She alleged that in 2009, Manson flew her to Los Angeles to shoot a video for the song “I Want To Kill You Like They Do In The Movies”.

According to the suit, Manson allegedly deprived Bianco of food and sleep, plied her with alcohol and drugs, locked her in a bedroom, whipped her, gave her electric shocks, tried to force her to have sex with another woman and threatened to enter her room and rape her during the night. The music video was never released.

Manson and Bianco reached an out-of-court settlement in January 2023. Bianco’s attorney said in a statement at the time that his client wanted “to move on with her life and career.”