“Westworld” actor Evan Rachel Wood, who testified before Congress about her experience with domestic and sexual violence, said on Monday that she was “terribly” abused by musician Marilyn Manson, her former partner.
In an Instagram post, Wood wrote that Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, “started preparing me when I was a teenager and horribly abused me for years”.
“I was brainwashed and manipulated until submission. I am tired of living in fear of retaliation, slander or blackmail, ”wrote Wood.
“I am here to expose this dangerous man and draw attention to the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins more lives,” added the actor. “I am left with the many victims who will not remain silent”.
Wood, now 33, met Manson, 52, when she was a teenager and he was almost 30. They dated intermittently in the late 2000s and, in 2010, were briefly engaged. Wood married “Billy Elliot” star Jamie Bell in 2012, and they divorced in 2014.
NBC News approached Manson’s representatives to comment on Wood’s allegations, which were quoted in full above.
British music magazine Metal Hammer said Manson abruptly ended a telephone interview last fall after the publication mentioned Wood’s name.
In a subsequent statement to the magazine, Manson’s British public relations representative said in part: “Personal testimony is just that, and we think it is inappropriate to comment on that.”
In early 2018, Wood testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee about his experiences with domestic and sexual violence during a hearing on the Sexual Violence Survivors’ Law. She said she was raped twice, first by an abusive partner and then by a man in a bar cabinet. (She did not name her attackers.)
She said she suffered from depression, agoraphobia and night terror after her assaults, and that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I was deeply terrified and that fear lives with me today,” said Wood in his testimony. “What makes me more hurt and more angry than the rape and abuse itself is that piece of me that was stolen, that changed the course of my life.”
