Phoenix Rising, the two-part documentary from HBO and director Amy Berg, will soon open the door on Evan Rachel Wood’s allegations against Marilyn Manson. The project followed Evan’s years of advocacy for sexual assault survivors, along with how she took to Instagram in 2021 to name Marilyn Manson as the (alleged) previously unnamed domestic abuser that she spoke of while testifying to lawmakers (to get the Phoenix Act passed, in order to increase the statute of limitations for rape cases).
March 15 will be premiere day for Phoenix Rising, and less than two weeks ahead of that date, Manson (real name Brian Warner) has sued Wood for what he calls a string of false allegations against him. Manson previously denied allegations of sexual abuse by Wood and several other accusers, but now, he’s taking his pushback to court. Deadline first reported language from the lawsuit papers, in which he’s asking for a jury trial and claims that Wood (and Illma Gore, who he describes as Wood’s “on-again, off-again romantic partner”) spread “malicious falsehood” that has damaged his career.
There’s a lot there. You can read the full report at Deadline, but Manson also claims that Wood and Gore “hacked into the singer’s computers and social media,” and here’s his further accusations that Wood and Gore fabricated an FBI letter to influence accusers:
They impersonated an actual agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by forging and distributing a fictitious letter from the agent, to create the false appearance that Warner’s alleged “victims” and their families were in danger, and that there was a federal criminal investigation of Warner ongoing (Attachment A);
They provided checklists and scripts to prospective accusers, listing the specific alleged acts of abuse that they should claim against Warner (Attachments B and C); and
They made knowingly false statements to prospective accusers (which have since been repeated by those accusers in court filings), including the defamatory claim that Warner filmed the sexual assault of a minor.
Manson has previously denied Wood’s claims that he terrorized, groomed, and abused her during their relationship. In response to Wood’s (as detailed in Phoenix Rising) accusation that he was “essentially raping” her on the set of 2007’s Heart-Shaped Glasses video, he also denies that claim. Wood alleged that she only agreed to simulate sex before Manson allegedly had nonconsensual intercourse while the cameras rolled. In response to those accusations, Manson issued a statement via a representative, who declared, “Brian did not have sex with Evan on that set, and she knows that is the truth.”
Phoenix Rising debuts on March 15 on HBO.
(Via Deadline)