Evan Rachel Wood accuses Marilyn Manson of sexual abuse on camera

Evan Rachel Wood has accused former partner Marilyn Manson of forcing her to have sex while filming one of his music videos.

In February 2021, nearly 15 years after meeting him at a party in Los Angeles when she was 18 and he was 37, Emmy-nominated Westworld actor Evan Rachel Wood publicly accused her former fiance Brian Warner – otherwise known as the controversial goth rocker Marilyn Manson – as her abuser for the first time.

But as the now-34-year-old Wood claims in Phoenix Rising, a feature documentary whose first half premiered Sunday night at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, the signs had been apparent for years – and in at least one instance, viewed by nearly 30 million fans on YouTube.

In the film, set to air in its entirety on HBO in March, Wood recalls her appearance in his 2007 music video for Heart-Shaped Glasses, which shows the couple having sex, or so it appears.

“We had discussed a simulated sex scene,” Wood said. “But once the cameras were rolling, he started penetrating me for real. I had never agreed to that … It was complete chaos and I did not feel safe – no one was looking after me … I felt disgusting and like I had done something shameful, and I could tell that the crew was very uncomfortable and nobody knew what to do.

“I was coerced into a commercial sex act under false pretences. That’s when the first crime was committed against me – and I was essentially raped on camera,” she alleged.

Responding to the new claims, Manson’s lawyer Howard King called the allegation “brazen” in a strongly-worded statement released today.

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Wood alleges that Manson forced her to have sex on camera. Picture: Scott Wintrow/Getty Images North America/AFP

“Of all the false claims that Evan Rachel Wood has made about Brian Warner, her imaginative retelling of the making of the ‘Heart-Shaped Glasses’ music video 15 years ago is the most brazen and easiest to disprove, because there were multiple witnesses,” it read.

“Evan was not only fully coherent and engaged during the three-day shoot but also heavily involved in weeks of pre-production planning and days of post-production editing of the final cut.

“The simulated sex scene took several hours to shoot with multiple takes using different angles and several long breaks in between camera setups.

“Brian did not have sex with Evan on that set, and she knows that is the truth.”

Manson’s lawyer says “multiple witnesses” can “disprove” the allegation.

Phoenix Rising, directed by the Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg, additionally documents Wood’s activism in creating the 2019 Phoenix Act, a bill that extended the statute of limitations for domestic violence from three years to five in California.

It also discusses Wood’s childhood, growing up in a North Carolina home where her parents often fought.

But the bulk of the first part of the documentary dives into dark details of the relationship between Wood and Manson.

“This isn’t about revenge or, like, he’s a monster and he needs to be punished and destroyed,” she said. “He’s already destroyed.”

In the film, Wood further explains how Manson allegedly forced her to lie to the press about the Heart-Shaped Glasses filming experience (“For me, that was one of the most romantic moments of my entire life,” she told GQ at the time).

She also touches on other disturbing allegations.

For instance, during their relationship – which she said ended in 2011 – she alleges Manson berated her for being Jewish. He allegedly painted watercolours showing Nazi themes, such as figures resembling Adolf Hitler, and got a chest tattoo with a shape resembles a swastika.

“At one point, over the side of the bed where I slept, he wrote ‘Kill all the Jews’ on our bedroom wall,” she alleges in the documentary.

They first met when Manson approached Wood at a Chateau Marmont party, with the singer telling her he was a fan of her performance in the 2003 film Thirteen.

At that time as a teenager, Wood describes in the documentary how she felt insecure, had “no core identity,” was a closeted bisexual and felt lost. Wood had a boyfriend at the time; Manson was married to the burlesque performer Dita Von Teese.

Manson was married to Dita Von Teese when he first approached Wood.

Wood saw Manson as an artist who seemed to take interest in her opinions on music and film.

“That definitely boosted my ego and confidence,” she said.

But she said a sexual encounter allegedly begun by Manson when Wood was 18 and he was still married changed things.

“This guy can have whoever he wants and he’s chosen you,” she said of how she felt in the moment. “You’re special now. And if I said no, then I was really scared we weren’t going to be friends anymore, so I let things go farther than I wish I had.”

Before long, Wood alleged it led to “love bombing,” a dating trend defined as communicating an overabundance of affection and attention as a form of emotional manipulation.

“Scarification and branding was part of it,” said Wood. “He carved an E [into his skin] and I carved an M … as a way to show ownership and loyalty. And I carved it right next to my vagina to show him that I belonged to him.”

A representative for Wood did not return a message from The Post seeking additional comment on this documentary. Manson’s lawyer, Howard King, also didn’t return a request seeking comment in advance of the screening.

However, a previous statement from “his counsel” is included at the end of the film, saying, “Mr Warner vehemently denies any and all claims of sexual assault or abuse of anyone. These lurid claims against my client have three things in common – they are all false, alleged to have taken place more than a decade ago and part of a co-ordinated attack by former partners and associates of Mr Warner who have weaponised the otherwise mundane details of his personal life and their consensual relationships into fabricated horror stories.”

Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood. Picture: Scott Wintrow/Getty Images North America/AFP

Wood’s 2021 announcement naming Manson, posted on her Instagram and shared in a statement with Vanity Fair, came as a bombshell.

Manson, who has since been accused of abuse by some 15 other women, including Game of Thrones actor Esmé Bianco, is now being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department, though no charges have been filed.

In the documentary, Wood said: “I don’t know who Brian Warner is honestly. I think Brian Warner died a long time ago. I think he has a lot of different personalities, specifically Marilyn and Manson. Two very different people. Brian doesn’t really show up.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission