To say some celebrities can't stand Marilyn Manson is a bit of an understatement — and
it's not because of his music. From former romantic partners to artistic rivals,
lots of entertainers truly despise the infamous rock star.
Evan Rachel Wood was 18 when she entered into a relationship with Marilyn Manson,
who was 36 at the time. The future "Westworld" actor and Manson,
18 years her senior, were engaged in January 2010 before splitting up in August.
In February 2021, Wood accused Manson of sexual assault and abuse that took place
during their relationship. The actor had previously discussed her history with an
abusive partner, but this exposure marked the first time she'd publicly
revealed who it was. To lobby for the passage of a national sexual assault
survivors bill of rights, Wood told the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in 2018 —
"My experience with domestic violence was this, the toxic mental, physical,
and sexual abuse which started slow but escalated over time,
including threats against my life, severe gaslighting and brainwashing, waking up
to the man that claimed to love me, raping what he believed to be my unconscious body."
Wood also provided testimony about abuse by a then-unnamed individual,
later understood to be Manson, to the California Assembly Public Safety Committee.
"In the beginning, he treated me like a princess. It wasn't until much later that
I realized everything he had told me was a lie and part of what is called the grooming process."
The bill Wood lobbied for, called the Phoenix Act, was made law in the state of California.
Fans of Trent Reznor may not know that he gave Marilyn Manson — both the man and the band behind
him — some of their earliest and biggest breaks. The frontmen were once friends and collaborators,
and Reznor's Nothing Records released the Marilyn Manson group's first couple of albums.
Reznor factors into the rise and fall of Manson, too — the relationship fractured in 1998 when,
in his memoir "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell," Manson claimed that he and Reznor
once beat up and sexually assaulted an intoxicated woman. Reznor denied that the
incident ever took place. The two reunited during a 2000 Nine Inch Nails concert,
but the reconciliation didn't last. Reznor told the music magazine Mojo in 2009 —
"He is a malicious guy and will step on anybody's face to succeed and cross any line of decency."
Manson claimed that the pair had made up by 2017, until that contentious anecdote
made the rounds on social media in 2021. Reznor said in a statement —
"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."
Actor Rose McGowan, at the time best known for "Scream" and "Charmed," dated musician
Marilyn Manson at the peak of his breakout success and early fame. The relationship
lasted from 1997 to 2001, when McGowan called off the couple's engagement.
In February 2021, after Evan Rachel Wood, Ashley Walters, Sarah McNeilly, Ashley Morgan,
and a woman identified only as "Gabriella" alleged extreme misconduct on the part of
Manson, McGowan also weighed in as a major voice in the #MeToo movement. She posted —
"The Cult of Hollywood, fame & the music industry must be stopped from protecting predators
and selling their sickness to the world. When he was with me, he was not like that,
but that has no bearing on whether he was like that with others before and after."
The same day that McGowan vowed support for Wood and other Manson accusers, the actor delivered
another statement on Instagram criticizing her former fiancé and others. She stated —
"I am profoundly sorry to those who have suffered the abuse & mental torture of Marilyn Manson."
Long before she became an indie rock icon,
both for her solo work and as one third of the supergroup Boygenius,
Phoebe Bridgers grew up playing in bands and busking in Southern California. As a teenager,
one of her favorite acts was Marilyn Manson, and at one point she talked her way into a
visit to the home of the group's namesake leader. Bridgers discussed the encounter in February 2021,
after Evan Rachel Wood alleged multiple counts of abuse and sexual misconduct. She tweeted —
"I went to Marilyn Manson's house when I was a teenager
with some friends. I was a big fan. He referred to a room in his house as
the 'rape room,' I thought it was just his horrible frat boy sense of humor."
Bridgers claimed that she stopped considering herself a fan of Manson's on the day of the
visit. She expressed her solidarity with everyone who came forward with stories about Manson's
misconduct and expressed disappointment at the fact that it remained an open secret for so long.
"People should take more responsibility internally. It doesn't matter how many
people know about it, you should, you know, look into things like you're the FBI."
As one might expect, Marilyn Manson crafted his pseudonym by combining the first name of
superstar actor and model Marilyn Monroe and the last name of cult leader Charles Manson.
The singer seemed to take particular inspiration from the latter figure,
as he covered a song from the album that the convict released while behind bars. Marilyn
Manson's version of "Sick City" was a special Valentine's Day offering on his website in 2000.
When Charles Manson died in prison in 2017, Marilyn Manson re-released
his version of "Sick City" as a twisted tribute to his namesake. Paul Stanley,
the longtime lead singer of the glam rock group KISS, found the whole thing to be
an exercise in extremely bad taste. As his post on X, formerly Twitter, said —
"Pathetic when somebody who's career never really took off is desperate enough to try
for publicity by connecting himself to the news of a murdering scumbag's death."
Marilyn Manson was probably the most controversial mainstream act of the mid-1990s,
with organizations protesting concerts and blaming the band's edgy music for school
shootings. By 1999, aggressive nu-metal acts like Limp Bizkit came along as the
new controversial bands designed to upset parents. The group's mix of rap and hard rock,
as performed by swaggering frontman Fred Durst, offended Manson too. On
a posting to his website in 1999, Manson said of bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit —
"The illiterate apes that beat your ass in high school for being a 'f--' now sell
you tuneless testosterone anthems of misogyny and pretend to be outsiders."
When asked about Manson's comments, Durst delivered a pointed response by saying —
"I understand that Marilyn Manson is very unhappy that his career has
gone in a shambles and he's alienated his fans. So if he has to say things
like that because he's very mad at himself, I would forgive him."
In November 2000, a Marilyn Manson concert at New York City's Roseland Ballroom ended in such
violent onstage chaos that drummer Ginger Fish suffered a break to his collarbone.
In reporting on what happened, the New York Post quoted electronic musician Moby,
who seemingly attended the show and didn't like what he saw. In his words —
"It was disgusting. I'm waiting to see if the police want witnesses. That kind
of violence is totally unnecessary onstage."
However, Moby didn't actually attend the 2000 show — the New York Post quoted
remarks that Moby delivered to a reporter in 1996 after watching a different Marilyn
Manson show. That time, the stage antics resulted in Fish rendered unconscious by
a blow from a tossed microphone stand. At any rate, Manson heard tell of Moby's 1996 comments
via the 2000 press coverage. In response to Moby's admonishment, Manson delivered his own
putdowns via a press release. After calling out the frequently licensed superstar DJ as a, quote,
"TV-commercial sound tracker," Manson explained the nature of his stage show. He explained —
"On my stage that kind of violence is completely necessary. It's just
unfortunate that Moby wasn't injured."
"People are just afraid of things they don't understand, and uh… maybe they're
not meant to understand me but uh… obviously some people do."
In a February 2021 Instagram post which was later deleted, former child and teen star Corey
Feldman detailed the two decades of bullying and abuse he endured at the hands of Marilyn
Manson. Feldman posted a photo of himself and the musician, pinpointing it to 1998 and writing —
"His press tour on 'Mechanical Animals' was where the decades
long mental and emotional abuse began."
Feldman explained that Manson attempted to make the actor end a five-year sobriety period by doing
cocaine with him. He said that Manson harbored an aggressive fascination with him for years,
proven by his frequent mentions in the musician's memoir, and alleged that
Manson kissed him without permission at the 1997 premiere of the movie "Private Parts."
Manson also reportedly told Feldman that he idolized him, and that he cribbed his fashion
sense from the actor's character in the movie "Dream a Little Dream." As Feldman further said —
"He used it as a way 2 manipulate me."
English musician Ellie Rowsell formed Wolf Alice in 2010, which evolved from a folk duo
into an experimental indie rock band that was nominated for a Grammy and a Mercury Prize.
Marilyn Manson was a big fan of the band — or at least he claimed to be when he met Rowsell,
but she thinks he had ulterior motives in mind.
In 2021, after Evan Rachel Wood detailed years of abuse from Manson,
Roswell revealed her own history with the musician by posting —
"Solidarity to Evan Rachel Wood and those calling out Marilyn Manson."
She went on to recall their encounter, writing —
"I met Marilyn backstage at a festival a few years ago. After his compliments towards my
band became more and more hyperbolic I became suspicious of his behavior."
That's when Rowsell noticed that Manson had positioned a
GoPro camera at a low angle so he could capture footage from beneath her skirt.
She continued by saying that the tour manager shrugged it off, asserting —
"When will we stop enabling misogynists on the account of their success? Women
must feel safe in the male dominated world that is the music industry."
British actor Esmé Bianco is most recognizable for her recurring role as Ros on "Game of Thrones."
She met Marilyn Manson in 2005 through her colleague Dita Von Teese, who was engaged to
him at the time. Following the end of that marriage, Manson reached out to Bianco in
2009 and asked her to star in a music video. The actor reported that the shoot lasted for
three continuous days in which she was denied food and sleep, was dressed only in underwear,
and given cocaine. At one point, Bianco told The Cut, Manson threw a camera,
bound the actor, struck her with a whip, and used an adult toy as a "torture device."
Nevertheless, a romantic relationship developed, characterized by violent, non-consensual sexual
encounters. After ending her marriage to move in with Manson, Bianco said the musician became
very controlling, telling her how to dress, when she was allowed to leave and return home,
and when she could sleep. Bianco testified to the California Assembly Public Safety Committee in
2019 while arguing in support of Evan Rachel Wood's Phoenix Act, recalling to lawmakers —
"I was often violently shaken awake should I go to sleep without permission."
"He always went too far. The biting, that was 100% non-consensual."
After Manson reportedly tried to attack Bianco with an ax, the actor was able
to leave the home, and the relationship, when Manson was asleep one day in 2011.
Model and burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese entered into a relationship with Marilyn
Manson in 2001. In December 2005, the couple got married, only for Von Teese to leave and
begin divorce proceedings one year later. Von Teese left Manson on December 24, 2006,
moving her things out of their home and relocating to Idaho for Christmas with
relatives. She wouldn't reveal to the media at the time, or even a little bit later,
the exact reasons why she ended the marriage. She told Harper's Bazaar in 2007 —
"Let's just say that it must have been something pretty bad for me to move out
of the house after six years together and to pack up my stuff on Christmas Eve."
After the split with Von Teese, Manson connected with actor Evan Rachel Wood,
who in 2021 divulged many allegations about Manson's violent and frightening behavior.
Von Teese made her "sole statement" on the matter in a since-deleted Instagram post, writing —
"Please know that the details made public do not match my personal experience during our
seven years together as a couple. Had they, I would not have married
him in December 2005. I left 12 months later due to infidelity and drug abuse."
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest
National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
If you or anyone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, call the National Domestic
Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information,
resources, and support at their website.