Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood’s Relationship Timeline
- Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood were in a relationship from 2007 to 2010.
- In February 2021, Wood alleged that Manson groomed and abused her, which he has denied.
- Since then, at least 16 women have accused the musician of sexual assault and battery.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
It’s been over a decade since Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson called off their engagement.
The “Westworld” star went on to marry and eventually divorce actor Jamie Bell, while the shock rocker wed photographer Lindsay Usich. As years passed following Wood and Manson’s 2010 breakup, the unlikely pair, separated by an 18-year age gap, had minimal crossover, at least in the public eye.
But that changed after Wood began speaking up about her experiences with domestic abuse. Though she didn’t immediately identify an alleged abuser, speculation arose as to whether or not she was referring to the “Tainted Love” musician. Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, refrained from speaking on the matter.
Things took a turn in February 2021, however. Wood released a statement saying that Manson groomed and abused her for years, accusations that the musician vehemently denied.
Now, Manson’s record label and talent agency have dropped him. He’s been scrubbed from upcoming projects. And his former romantic partners, collaborators, and fellow musicians are publicly addressing the allegations.
Here’s a look at what we know about Wood and Manson’s early 2000s relationship and the events leading up to and following the actress’ accusations.
2005: Wood and Manson met at Chateau Marmont
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images; Christopher Polk/Getty Images
The former child actress met Manson at Chateau Marmont, a luxury hotel in Los Angeles. She later told Elle that they were both “hiding in the corner of a party neither of us wanted to be at.”
“I met somebody that promised freedom and expression and no judgments, and I was craving danger and excitement,” Wood later told Rolling Stone.
She was 19 when they met, while the”Sweet Dreams” singer was 36 and married to dancer Dita Von Teese.
2007: They went public with their relationship
E. Charbonneau/Getty Images
After Manson and Von Teese divorced in 2007, Wood said she and the musician “suddenly looked into one another’s eyes and knew” during an interview with Elle. She began publicly dating the musician in 2007, a move she knew would be met with strong opinions.
“I looked at my mother one day and said, ‘Mom, I’m gonna get on this tour bus for eight months and see the world and have a crazy journey and find myself, and if people aren’t OK with that, I’m sorry, but I can’t live my life for other people,'” she told Rolling Stone.
Still, Wood said she was “demonized” for being with Manson.
“People would call me a w—- when I walked down the street, and you can’t not be hurt by that,” she added.
April 2007: Wood starred in an intimate, gory music video with Manson
The “Across the Universe” actress appeared in the music video for Manson’s song “Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand),” the first single from his sixth studio album, “Eat Me, Drink Me.”
In the video, Wood wears red heart-shaped sunglasses and partakes in graphic sex scenes with Manson. At one point, both she and Manson are naked and covered in blood.
The singer felt inspired to write the song after seeing Wood in “Lolita glasses,” referring to Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel about a middle-aged man that falls in love with a 12-year-old, Manson explained during an interview with “Energy” in 2007.
“People think that because she’s younger than me that there’s a ‘Lolita’ relationship there. We thought that was very amusing to us,” he said.
Manson continued, “When I saw her wearing those, the first thing I said to her was, ‘If you break my heart, I’ll break your glasses.’ And I meant it in an almost violent way but also in a romantic way.”
He added that much of “Eat Me, Drink Me” was a result of his romance with Wood, who he called his “twin.”
As for Wood, she said the video shows that it’s OK to have “different, weird ideas about romance,” explaining that the blood-filled sex scene was “one of the most romantic moments of my entire life” during a 2007 interview with GQ. She added that people would be “surprised at the kind of healthy, loving relationship” between the couple.
“I’m really just being me and growing up,” she said. “I’m sorry if I have blonde hair and blue eyes and my boyfriend looks like a vampire. What do you want me to do about it?”
July 2007: The actress talked about their ‘healthy’ relationship in an interview with Elle
E. Charbonneau/Getty Images
Months after the release of the “Heart-Shaped Glasses” music video, Wood spoke highly of her then-boyfriend during an interview with Elle.
She said that they had a “healthy” and “loving” relationship, describing Manson as both “lovely” and “crazy,” which she went on to explain was “the highest compliment.” Wood said that she felt “more creative than ever before” when she was with Manson, but added that people are still “cruel” about their romance.
“Surely the fact that we are both prepared to go through all this proves just how important — and real — our love is, no? Everyone is so worried that I’m losing myself but really I’m finding myself. I’ve never been more comfortable in my own skin,” she said.
November 2008: Wood denied a rumor that she and Manson broke up because he was ‘controlling’ and ’emotionally abusive’
Todd Williamson/Getty Images
The on-again, off-again couple briefly broke up in 2008. Wood said that they “decided to take some time apart so we could concentrate on work” in a statement to People. She also shut down a rumor that they ended their relationship as a result of Wood’s brother getting kicked out of Manson’s guesthouse.
“Manson owns the house he lives in. My brother has never stayed there and the person that said such horrible things about Manson being ‘controlling’ and ’emotionally abusive’ is certainly no source ‘close’ to me,” Wood told People.
She continued, “Manson has been by my side and taken care of me through the best and worst times. I love him as a person and as an artist. I will always be proud to have been a part of that.”
June 2009: Manson said he called Wood ‘158’ times after they broke up and repeatedly ‘cut’ himself
Shirlaine Forrest/Getty Images
Manson said that he tried to “grasp on and save” his relationship with Wood during an interview with Spin. He recalled using a razor blade to “cut” himself each of the “158 times” that he called the actress, an action that Manson said was “stupid” but “intentional.”
“This was a scarification, and this was like a tattoo. I wanted to show her the pain she put me through. It was like, ‘I want you to physically see what you’ve done,'” he said.
Manson then explained that the song “Into the Fire” is about his low point following their split, adding that a track called “I Want to Kill You Like They Do in The Movies” is about his “fantasies.”
“I have fantasies every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer,” he said.
Manson and Wood eventually rekindled. According to People, Manson told the Herald Sun: “Me being me at my best is what I need to be. That really paid off because I’m back with Evan.”
January 2010: They got engaged but broke up 8 months later
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Manson proposed to Wood while he was performing on stage in Paris. Eight months later, the couple called off their engagement.
August 2015: Wood said she appreciated their relationship but didn’t think they were ‘right for each other’
D Dipasupil/Getty Images
Two years after Wood and Manson went their separate ways, the actress married actor Jamie Bell. They had a son named Jack together but divorced in 2014, two years into their marriage.
During a 2015 interview with Net-A-Porter’s “The Edit,” Wood said that she “thought” she was in love with Manson but said that Bell was “the love of my life.” She explained that she “wanted to break a mold” around the time she dated the musician but wasn’t with him to be intentionally “rebellious.”
“I knew I was edgier, more alternative, and weird. And [Marilyn] was just what I needed, because I felt really free with him. And that freedom was attractive,” she said.
Wood added that the criticism aimed at their relationship angered her, so she “pushed away even more.” Despite her and Manson’s split, the actress said she “wouldn’t trade” their relationship.
“I appreciate everything he taught me. I just don’t think we were right for each other,” she said.
November 2016: The actress said she’s been raped twice
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Wood spoke about being sexually assaulted in a letter she wrote to Rolling Stone to supplement her 2016 interview. She then shared the full statement on Twitter.
In the letter, the actress said she’s been raped twice, once by a “significant other while we were together” and another time by “the owner of a bar.” Wood didn’t name either of the perpetrators but said it took her a long time to understand that the former assault was “rape” since she was in a relationship with the individual.
“This was many, many years ago and I, of course, know now neither one was my fault and neither one was OK,” she wrote, continuing, “This was all before I tried to commit suicide and I am sure was one of the many factors.”
October 2017: Wood spoke about why she had not identified her alleged abusers
Kevork Djansezian/NBC/Getty Images
In the midst of the #MeToo movement and controversy surrounding disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, the actress talked about why many women, including herself, don’t publicly identify their abusers.
“I have not named my abusers,” she said in a YouTube video according to Insider.
She continued, “Not because I don’t plan on saying these names eventually, but because to start that process is emotionally draining and financially draining, really an everything draining thing to do and to go through. And I want to do it when I’m ready.”
Though she didn’t name anyone, Wood described them as “very powerful, very rich, very entitled, and very narcissistic white men.”
February 2018: Wood gave testimony about sexual assault in Congress
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Wood testified to the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee during a hearing about the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act, which granted assault survivors specific rights at a federal level but not at a state level.
During her testimony, which advocated to extend the rights at the state level, Wood spoke about experiencing two incidents of sexual assault, one of them by a domestic partner.
“It started slow but escalated over time, including threats against my life, severe gas-lighting and brainwashing, [and] waking up to the man that claimed to love me raping what he believed to be my unconscious body,” Wood said.
She continued, “And the worst part: Sick rituals of binding me up by my hands and feet to be mentally and physically tortured until my abuser felt I had proven my love for them.”
Wood added, “While I was tied up and being beaten and told unspeakable things, I truly felt like I could die. Not just because my abuser said to me, ‘I could kill you right now,’ but because in that moment I felt like I left my body and I was too afraid to run.”
She went on to say that she’d been diagnosed with long-term PTSD and struggled with ”
depression
, addiction,
agoraphobia
, and night terrors.”
Watch her full testimony below.
March 2019: Wood posted on social media as part of the #IAmNotOK movement
The actress joined the #IAmNotOk campaign, a movement that encouraged people to speak up about their experiences with domestic violence. Wood first posted a series of photographs from a 2010 shoot for Elle and reflected on feeling “so weakened by an abusive relationship” that day.
“I was emaciated, severely depressed, and could barely stand. I fell into a pool of tears and was sent home for the day,” she said.
Wood then told her followers that she doesn’t “remember what it feels like to not be scared” in a video she posted to Instagram.
April 2019: She gave a detailed account of her previously abusive relationship while testifying in favor of the Phoenix Act
Andrew Toth/Getty Images
Wood testified in front of the California Senate Public Safety Committee to advocate for the Phoenix Act, a law aimed to create “exceptions to the statute of limitations for domestic violence crimes.” Though she didn’t identify anyone by name, she gave a detailed account of her previously abusive relationship.
The actress said that she met the individual when she was a teenager and underwent the “The Grooming Process.” Wood said the man isolated her from friends and family and convinced her that nothing she did was “good enough.”
“I ended up adopting the persona of the person he wanted me to be and losing myself completely,” she said.
Wood went on to say that her partner monitored her phone and kept her close by “means of starvation, sleep deprivation, and threats.” She also said he threatened to kill those around her and forced her to “partake in acts of fear, pain, torture, and humiliation,” which he recorded.
During her testimony, Wood said that she’s since been diagnoses with “complex PTSD, including disassociation, panic attacks, night terrors, agoraphobia, impulse control, chronic pain in my body, among other symptoms.”
September 2020: Manson cut a telephone interview short after a reporter asked him about Wood
Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Metal Hammer’s reporter Dave Everley broached the topic of Wood during a telephone interview, and the singer reportedly hung up as soon as he heard the actress’ name. Manson didn’t issue a response to the outlet’s questions, but his PR team did provide a statement.
“Personal testimony is just that, and we think it’s inappropriate to comment on that,” the statement began, continuing, “It is my understanding that Evan Rachel Wood dated multiple people around the time she was dating Manson. Basic internet research will give you a host of other names that have not come up in any of our discussions.”
The statement also said that Manson’s past comments about having violent fantasies involving Wood were “obviously a theatrical rock star interview” and “not a factual account.” It then directed readers to his 2017 interview with Channel 4 News, during which he shared his opinion on the #MeToo movement.
“Manson has never shied away from public comment — equally he does not have to make the same comment twice,” the statement read.
It also mentioned that Manson’s ex-fiancée Rose McGowan “talks very fondly” about their past relationship and his ex-wife Von Teese “remains good friends” with him. The statement then went on to say that Wood has spoken “very positively” about her relationship with Manson in “numerous articles over multiple years.”
February 1, 2021: Wood publicly accused Manson of ‘grooming’ and ‘horrifically’ abusing her
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
Over a decade after Manson and Wood’s relationship ended, the actress publicly accused the singer of abusing her.
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” she said in a statement posted on Instagram. “He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission.”
She continued: “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.”
Wood also reshared other women’s statements detailing their own experiences with Manson on her Instagram story.
February 1, 2021: Manson’s record label dropped him
Rich Fury/VF20/Getty Images
Loma Vista Recordings, which released Manson’s three most recent albums, cut ties with the singer, according to a statement posted to social media.
“In light of today’s disturbing allegations by Evan Rachel Wood and other women naming Marilyn Manson as their abuser, Loma Vista will cease to further promote his current album, effective immediately,” the statement read.
“Due to these concerning developments,” it continued, “we have also decided not to work with Marilyn Manson on any future projects.”
February 1, 2021: Manson released a statement denying the allegations
The singer responded to Wood and the other women’s allegations in a statement he posted on social media.
“Obviously, my life and my art have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality. My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth,” he wrote.
February 1, 2021: Starz and AMC announced Manson wouldn’t appear in upcoming projects, as previously scheduled
As a result of the women’s allegations against Manson, Starz decided to “remove his performance” from the “American Gods” episode he appears in, a Starz spokesperson told Deadline.
AMC also replaced Manson’s segment on the second season of its horror series “Creepshow,” a representative told Deadline. Sources also told the outlet that talent agency CAA dropped Manson as a client due to the allegations.
February 1, 2021: McGowan vocalized her support for Wood and the other women who spoke up about Manson
Ron Galella/Getty Images
McGowan, an actress and activist who was previously engaged to Manson, voiced her support for the women that came forward about their experiences with the singer.
“I stand with Evan Rachel Wood and other brave women who have come forward. It takes years to recover from abuse and I send them strength on their journey to recovery. Let the truth be revealed. Let the healing begin,” she tweeted.
McGowan also shared a video saying that Manson “was not like that” during their relationship but added that her own experience had “no bearing on whether he was like that with others before or after.”
February 3, 2021: Von Teese addressed the abuse allegations
J. Vespa/Getty Images
The dancer, who was married to Manson from 2005 to 2007, shared a brief statement on Instagram addressing the recent allegations surrounding her ex-husband.
Von Teese said that “the details made public do not match my personal experience” with Manson, adding that she wouldn’t have married him if they did. She said they ultimately divorced because of “infidelity and drug abuse.”
“Abuse of any kind has no place in any kind of relationship,” she wrote, urging “those of you who have incurred abuse to take steps to heal.”
February 3, 2021: Two of Manson’s former collaborators, Wes Borland and Trent Reznor, weighed in on the allegations
John Shearer/Getty Images; New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images
Days after Wood and other women said Manson abused them, two people that were previously close to Manson spoke about the allegations.
Wes Borland, a Limp Bizkit guitarist that was in Manson’s band from 2008 to 2009, said the women’s allegations about the singer are “true” while speaking on the
Twitch
channel Space Zebra Live, according to Metal Hammer.
“Every single thing that people have said about him is f—ing true. So relax about the allegations towards the women. Like when people say these women are coming after him right now… f— off, they are speaking the truth,” Borland said.
Borland also said he was there when Manson “was with Evan Rachel Wood. I was at his house. It’s not f—ing cool, and that’s all I’m gonna say about it.”
Trent Reznor, the Nine Inch Nails star who used to be Manson’s friend and collaborator, also addressed the allegations after a passage from Manson’s 1998 autobiography “The Long Hard Road Out of Hell” resurfaced online.
In the book, Manson tells a story about him and Reznor sexually assaulting a woman in the ’90s, as reported by Pitchfork.
In a statement provided to the outlet, Reznor said the following: “I have been vocal over the years about my dislike of Manson as a person and cut ties with him nearly 25 years ago. As I said at the time, the passage from Manson’s memoir is a complete fabrication. I was infuriated and offended back when it came out and remain so today.”
February 5, 2021: Wood accused Manson of using anti-Semitic and racist slurs
Two days later, Wood said that the singer exhibited anti-Semitic behavior during their relationship in a message she shared on her Instagram story.
“I was called a ‘jew’ in a derogatory manner. He would draw swastikas over my bedside table when he was mad at me,” she wrote, continuing, “I heard the ‘n’ word over and over. Everyone around him was expected to laugh and join in. If you did not or (god forbid) called him out, you were singled out and abused more.”
Evan Rachel Wood/Instagram
She said that Manson told her it was “better” that she wasn’t “blood jewish” since her mother converted to the religion.
Wood also shared since-deleted photos of Manson’s tattoos, alleging that some have anti-Semitic meanings, as reported by People. She added that he didn’t have the tattoos when they were together.
The actress then wrote that she and Manson didn’t have “kinky sex” or “sexual intercourse” when she was “being tortured, before or after.”
“I thought I was going to die the entire time,” she said.
January 23, 2022: Wood detailed her allegations against Manson in ‘Phoenix Rising’
Presley Ann/Getty Images
The actress recounts the abuse she says she suffered during her relationship with Manson in “Phoenix Rising,” a two-part HBO documentary set for release in March 2022.
In the first part of the documentary, titled “Don’t Fall,” which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2022, Wood displays a picture of an “M” scar that she says Manson gave her on her pelvic area. Wood vocalizes her desire to remove the mark but said she has not done so in order to preserve it as “evidence.”
The actress says she also gave Manson an “E” scar, though she does not provide detail on how or where. Manson’s manager and lawyer did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment about the scar.
Wood also recalls Manson repeatedly saying that “Hitler was the first rock star,” asserting that he viewed the Nazi leader as a “stylish, well spoken” individual that “knew how to manipulate the masses to do what he wanted.” Initially, she remembers viewing Manson’s use of Nazi imagery in his art as an “ironic” commentary but grew increasingly uneasy, as she says he got “multiple swastika tattoos” and wrote, “Kill all the Jews,” on their bedroom wall.
Also in the documentary, Wood alleges that Manson “essentially raped her” when they filmed the music video for “Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)” in 2007.
“We had discussed a simulated sex scene, but once the cameras were rolling, he started penetrating me for real,” Wood says in the Amy Berg-directed documentary. “I had never agreed to that.”
She continues: “I was coerced into a commercial sex act under false pretenses. That’s when the first crime was committed against me and I was essentially raped on camera.”
Howard King, Manson’s attorney, responded to Woods’ comments in a statement to Insider, denying that the musician and the actress had sex on the music video set.
“Of all the false claims that Evan Rachel Wood has made about Brian Warner, her imaginative retelling of the making of the ‘Heart-Shaped Glasses’ music video 15 years ago is the most brazen and easiest to disprove, because there were multiple witnesses,” the statement began.
“Evan was not only fully coherent and engaged during the three-day shoot but also heavily involved in weeks of pre-production planning and days of post-production editing of the final cut,” the statement added. “The simulated sex scene took several hours to shoot with multiple takes using different angles and several long breaks in between camera setups.”
“Brian did not have sex with Evan on that set, and she knows that is the truth,” the statement concluded.
