Marilyn Manson has faced several sexual abuse allegations in the last few years. Now one of his accusers has decided to retract her claims. In fact, the accuser alleges that Evan Rachel Wood pressured her into making the allegations.
As shared via NBC, the former accuser, named Ashley Morgan Smithline, “alleges that she publicly accused Manson of sexual assault and sexual battery only because she was pressured by Wood.” This information was released in a declaration filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The allegations by Smithline have been denied by a representative for Wood. They released a statement that says “Evan never pressured or manipulated Ashley.” Furthermore, Wood insists that Manson has “horrifically abused” her for years now despite Manson denying the claims.
Manson is said to have “filed a defamation suit last year accusing Wood of having ‘secretly recruited, coordinated and pressured’ women to accuse him of abuse.” This lines up with the new court document where Smithline is said to have felt “manipulated” by women alleging Manson of abuse, including Evan Rachel Wood.
She claimed to have denied being abused when speaking with Wood in 2020:
“When I said, no this did not happen to me and this was not my experience, I recall being told by Ms. Wood that just because I could not remember did not necessarily mean that it did not happen,” Smithline said in her filing.
Wood’s representative alleges the following:
“It was Ashley who first contacted Evan about the abuse she had suffered,” adding, “it’s unfortunate that the harassment and threats Ashley received after filing her federal lawsuit appear to have pressured her to change her testimony.”
Marilyn Manson, aka Brian Warner, had the following statement shared by his attorney, Howard King:
“As we have always said, the coordinated campaign of #MeToo lies against Brian Warner is going to go down as one of the greatest hoaxes of all time,” King said. “Vulnerable women were manipulated by unscrupulous individuals seeking to build their own brands and pursue their own vendettas.”
As of this writing, Marilyn Manson hasn’t been charged with any crimes connected to Wood’s allegations. As such, we’ll have to see how this situation continues. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any further updates as we have them.