Marilyn Manson’s former sexual assault accuser Ashley Morgan Smithline claims his ex Evan Rachel Wood was among those who “manipulated” her into make false rape accusations against the shock rocker.
The 58-year-old ‘Personal Jesus’ singer – born Brian Hugh Warner – had been accused by Morgan Smithline, 38, of raping her while cutting her with a swastika-emblazoned knife and shoving his fist into her mouth during sex, with the model revealing her claims in the “The View” in June 2021 and entering a lawsuit against him.
Her case was dismissed in January after she failed to find new legal counsel to represent her, and she has now told in a declaration about her allegations, obtained by “Page Six” on Thursday: “I succumbed to pressure from Evan Rachel Wood and her associates to make accusations of rape and assault against (Marilyn) that were not true.”
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She said either Rachel Wood’s girlfriend Illma Gore, or Manson’s former assistant Ashley Walters, who also sued him, contacted her in 2020 and allegedly said she should take part in group meetings of the singer’s “victims”.
Morgan Smithline said she was asked in the discussions if she’d been whipped, chained, tied up, “branded, cut, assaulted while sleeping, beaten, or raped” by Manson – to which she apparently said “no” and “this was not my experience”.
She said actress Rachel Wood, 35,– who publicly said she had been abused by Manson in February, 2021, – told her that “just because she could not remember” any beatings, it “did not necessarily mean” it didn’t happen and said she may have “repressed” the memories out of trauma.
She said: “While at first I knew Mr Warner did not do these things to me, I eventually I began to question whether he actually did.
“I was asked whether (I) was repressing memories to just get through day-to-day life, and whether it was easier just to not think about what actually happened than accept reality.
“They also said it was important for people to come forward so that no one else gets hurt.”
Morgan Smithline said as she grew to believe she was an abuse victim, she let Gore write a statement about her claims, and post it on social media.
A source told “Page Six” the only time Rachel Wood met Morgan Smithline was when they were on camera filming a documentary.
Manson’s attorney Howard King also told the outlet Morgan Smithline had contacted him and his team last week and apologised, saying: “She was a reluctant participant (in Evan’s alleged scheme) from the get-go.”
More than a dozen women to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against Manson, after Rachel Wood claimed in 2021 on Instagram he abused her.
Manson has filed a lawsuit against Rachel Wood and Gore, alleging among other charges those of defamation, emotional distress, and “impersonation over the internet”.
Gore had denied accusations she coerced women into branding Manson an abuser, while Rachel Wood – who dated him from 2006 to 2010 and was briefly his fiancée – maintains she has the “truth” on her side.