Marilyn Manson To Pay Ex Evan Rachel Wood Over $300,000 In Legal Fees After His Defamation Suit Against Her Flops

Marilyn Manson, whose birth name is Brian Warner, has dropped his defamation lawsuit against ex Evan Rachel Wood in response to allegations of rape.

In March 2022, Warner filed a lawsuit against his ex-fiancée Wood in which he accused her of defamation and emotional distress. On Nov. 19, Warner agreed to pay Wood approximately $327,000 to cover the attorney fees of the case.

Warner’s lawsuit was filed just a few weeks before Phoenix Rising was released, the HBO miniseries in which Wood detailed the rape and sexual abuse she was subjected to throughout her relationship with Warner. Lasting from 2006 to 2011, Warner and Wood’s relationship began when she was 18 and he was 37. 

Wood first opened up about having experienced sexual assault at the hands of a former partner in 2016. She testified before the House of Judiciary Subcommittee in Washington, D.C. to advocate for the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Acts to be passed in all 50 states two years later.

In February 2021, Wood first called Warner out by name in an Instagram post, in which she shared, “[Warner] started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission.”

Wood declared, “I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.” In Phoenix Rising, she detailed the harrowing occasion when Warner raped her on camera for a music video.

Wood was one of at least 15 women who accused Warner of sexual assault, with allegations of abuse dating back almost 25 years.

In response, Warner filed a lawsuit against Wood in 2022, in which he denied the allegations, labeling them “Horrible distortions of reality.” 

He further accused Wood and her co-defendant, “on-again, off-again romantic partner” Ilma Gore of impersonating an FBI agent “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.” Warner’s lawyers alleged that Gore had “publicly cast” the musician as a “rapist and abuser — a malicious falsehood that has derailed Warner’s successful music, TV and film career.”

Although the court dismissed the defamation claims last year, Warner sought to settle the lawsuit by paying a portion of Wood’s legal fees in exchange for keeping the terms confidential and Wood agreeing to release a mutual public statement. Wood declined the offer, and Warner ultimately agreed to drop the case.

Regarding the dropped lawsuit, a representative for Wood told People, “[Warner] filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career. His attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed as the trial court correctly found, Warner’s claims were meritless. Warner’s decision to finally abandon his lawsuit and pay Ms. Wood her full fee award of almost $327,000 only confirms as much.”

A representative for Warner told The Rolling Stone, “[Warner] is pleased to dismiss his still-pending claims and appeal in order to close the door on this chapter of his life.”

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