Marilyn Manson’s most shocking moments amid abuse allegations
He’s been accused of abuse by a string of women, and a look into Marilyn Manson’s decades in the spotlight shows many disturbing incidents.
Goth rocker Marilyn Manson built a career on shocking audiences with lewd acts, self-harm and brazen claims of fantasising about beating his ex-girlfriend with a sledgehammer.
But the 54-year-old’s reputation has taken a more damaging hit after up to eight women came forward with allegations of sexual and emotional abuse – which saw him dumped by his record label.
The avalanche of claims was sparked by Hollywood actress Evan Rachel Wood, who told how she was once tied up and “shocked” with a torture device.
Seven others accused the singer of “terrorising” them with violence, depriving them of sleep and forcing them to listen to him with other lovers – at his home nicknamed the “meat locker”.
But the once-mighty star’s fall from grace is far from over – with yet more women preparing to come forward with devastating allegations of sexual and physical abuse.
Now US politicians have written to the FBI to seek an investigation into his conduct.
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BIZARRE BEHAVIOUR ON AND OFF STAGE
Manson, who denies the claims, has exploited his ability to shock fans for years, since forming his band in 1989.
Born Brian Hugh Warner, he chose his alter-ego by fusing together the names of America’s biggest sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, and its biggest maniac, Charles Manson.
In 1994 he was arrested at a concert in Jacksonville, Florida, for what he later described as “jacking off with a strap-on dildo and urinating on the crowd”.
The same year, while recording in the studio, Manson invited in a deaf groupie, asked her to strip naked, decorated her with hot dogs, salami and pig’s feet and took photos of her.
In 2001, Manson was arrested for gyrating his manhood against a security guard’s head at a US music festival, while wearing just tights and a leather thong.
And one day after Michael Jackson’s 15-year-old daughter Paris allegedly slit her wrists because she was not allowed to go to a Manson concert, in 2013, he dedicated Disposable Teens to her.
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The provocative singer, who once dragged a broken bottle across his bare chest during a gig, then simulated cutting his own wrists.
Offstage he also demonstrated his capacity to shock – becoming a card-carrying minister in the Church of Satan and once boasting of smoking human bones after a night of grave-robbing.
After the deadly Columbine school shooting, in Colorado, which saw 13 murdered, Manson was forced to defend his controversial persona – after it emerged the killers liked his music.
At the height of his fame – in the late 1990s and early 2000s – Manson dated a string of stunning celebrities, including actress Rose McGowan and burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese.
SHOCKING INTERVIEW ABOUT EX-FIANCEE
In 2007 he began dating actress Evan Rachel Wood when she was just 18 but they split following a brief engagement in 2010.
After the horrific allegations from actress Wood were made public on Monday, shocking comments resurfaced from Manson in an old interview during a temporary split between the pair.
In it, he claimed he had phoned her 158 times in a single day – cutting himself after each call – and fantasised about “smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer”.
Manson, when asked about Wood, told Spin magazine: “My lowest point was Christmas Day 2008, because I didn’t speak to my family.
“My walls were covered in scrawlings of the lyrics and cocaine bags nailed to the wall.
“And I did have an experience where I was struggling to deal with being alone and being forsaken and being betrayed by putting your trust in one person … The wrong person.
“And that’s a mistake that everyone can relate to. I made the mistake of trying to, desperately, grasp on and save that and own it.
“And every time I called her that day – I called 158 times – I took a razor blade and I cut myself on my face or on my hands.
“I look back and it was a really stupid thing to do. This was intentional, this was a scarification, and this was like a tattoo. I wanted to show her the pain she put me through.
“It sounds made up but it’s completely true and I don’t give a sh*t if people believe it or not. I’ve got the scars to prove it.
He added: “I have fantasies every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer.”
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Despite Manson insisting the anecdote was “completely true” his UK PR representative claimed last year that the singer had been acting in character.
They said the comments were “obviously a theatrical rock star interview promoting a new record, and not a factual account”.
Manson responded to the recent allegations, saying: “Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality.
“My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how – and why – others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”
But before going public, the Westworld star, 33, had by that time already dropped plenty of hints that she saw Manson as an abuser.
In 2016 she told Rolling Stone magazine that she had been raped twice “many years ago”, once by a “significant other” and another time by a “bar owner”.
Two years later, following the emergence of #MeToo, she was even more forthcoming while testifying before a US committee in support of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act.
She described being tied up, beaten and raped, during chilling evidence.
Ms Wood, her hands shaking, said: “There are two specific instances of sexual assault I have experienced that really stick out in my mind. In fact, they are burned into my brain.
“Branded there for life, a mental scar that I feel, every day. My experience with domestic violence was this.
“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, and the worst part, sick rituals of binding me up by my hands and feet to be mentally and physically tortured until my abuser felt I had ‘proven my love for them’.
“In this moment, while I was tied up and being beaten and being told unspeakable things, I truly felt like I could die, not just because my abuser said to me: ‘I could kill you right now.’
“But because in that moment, I felt like I left my body. I was too afraid to run, he would find me. I was too afraid to fight back, he had threatened to kill me before.”
Ms Wood said the experiences happened “a decade ago” and left her with PTSD, depression, addiction, agoraphobia and night terrors.
Fans speculated that – because of the time period – she was referring to Manson.
The following year, she described the abuse in more horrific detail.
She said: “Once I was restrained he beat me and shocked sensitive parts of my body with a torture device called a violet wand.
“To him it was a way for me to prove my loyalty. The pain was excruciating. It felt like I left my body and a part of me died that day.”
MORE WOMEN EMERGE
In a social media post on Monday, Wood went one step further and named Manson for the first time.
She said: “The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years.
“I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail.
“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.”
Now the “many victims” are finding their voice – with eight coming out within hours and telling similar stories of alleged abuse at the hands of Manson.
Ashley Lindsay Morgan wrote how the rocker was like “many of the musicians I’d met … but with cocaine and absinthe” after he contacted her while she was modelling in Thailand in 2009.
She said that Manson made her “feel safe” but things “turned dark very quickly”.
Ashley said: “There was abuse, sexual violence, physical violence and coercion. I still feel the affects everyday. I have night terrors, PTSD, anxiety, and most crippling OCD.
“I try to wash constantly to get him out or off of me.”
Jewish model Ashley described having to fetch Manson’s Nazi memorabilia – including Swastika throwing stars.
She said he would burn and cut her and told how the singer would allegedly throw her out if she fell asleep – keeping her awake by blasting music.
Ashley added: “I know he is still doing this to a rotating door of young girls and causing irreparable damage. I am coming forward so he will finally stop.”
Sarah McNeilly, another model, says she was “abused, terrorised and scarred” by a man “posing as the perfect boyfriend” – describing his chilly home as “the meat locker”.
She claimed she had been locked in rooms and forced to listen to him “entertaining” other women and was warned that others who tried to speak out saw their pets killed.
Sarah said on Instagram: “Any male friends in my life were not allowed any longer. He threatened to shank one of them after they posted something on my Facebook page.
“I was thrown up against a wall and he threatened to bash my face in with the baseball bat he was holding, for trying to get him to pick out a pair of pants prior to a music video.
“I witnessed him recording others unknowingly in order to have blackmail on most anyone who entered ‘the meat locker’ (as I called his home, it was kept at a chilly 62 degrees (16C) always).
“I want to see Brian held accountable for his evil.”
Others are also preparing to come forward.
Esme Bianco, who once dated Manson, said on Instagram: “I support and stand with the survivors who have come forward today.
“When the time is right for me, I will have more to say about my own experience and will share my story in full.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
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