Actress Evan Rachel Wood is all grown up, and she has nothing but gracious things to say about Marilyn Manson and her relationship with him. In a cover story for the Edit, Wood says Manson came along at the right time, when she was trying to figure herself outside of the context of being a child star (Wood broke out as a teenager in Thirteen) who was raised by overprotective parents:
“I thought I was in love. I wasn’t doing it to prove a point or be rebellious. I wanted to break a mold for sure – I knew I was edgier, more alternative, and weird. And he was just what I needed, because I felt really free with him. And that freedom was attractive.”
Wood also said that it was hard to deal with public perception at the time, especially because she got together with Manson soon after he separated from then-wife Dita Von Teese: “People were cruel. You build immunity to that sort of thing, but I wasn’t used to negative feedback, so it got to me. Then I got angry, and pushed away even more.”
Still, she doesn’t regret the relationship at all: “I wouldn’t trade any of [our relationship]. I appreciate everything he taught me. I just don’t think we were right for each other.” After their break up, Wood moved to New York, where she discovered she was bisexual, a side of herself that is essential for her to explore: “I didn’t realize how crippling it was until I finally opened that door and went, ‘Wow!’”
Sounds like everything worked out as it should, especially for someone who became successful in such a public industry at such a young age.
(Via Net-A-Porter)