A former girlfriend who had accused Marilyn Manson of abuse has backed away from the allegations in a declaration of assist filed in his defamation lawsuit in opposition to Evan Rachel Wood.
Ashley Morgan Smithline alleges that she publicly accused Manson of sexual assault and sexual battery solely as a result of she was pressured by Wood, in keeping with a declaration filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom.
A consultant for Wood didn’t instantly return a request for touch upon the allegations however has beforehand denied coercing ladies into making accusations.
Wood has stated that she was “horrifically abused” by Manson for years.
Manson has denied any wrongdoing.
The entertainer, whose authorized title is Brian Warner, filed a defamation go well with in opposition to Wood final 12 months, accusing her of getting “secretly recruited, coordinated and pressured” ladies to accuse him of abuse.
Smithline got here ahead with allegations in opposition to Manson in an interview with Individuals journal in Might 2021. She accused him of subjecting her to bodily, sexual and psychological abuse between 2010 and 2013.
Manson was accused of conduct that included whipping Smithline, carving his initials into her physique and penetrating her whereas she was unconscious. The Individuals report included a photograph of Smithline in a towel, exhibiting what seemed to be a scar on her thigh that she referenced within the interview and alleged was brought on by Manson.
Smithline instructed Individuals that she started to heal solely after talking with different ladies about their experiences with Manson in 2020. She stated that assembly others, together with Wood, helped to minimize “these emotions of guilt and disgrace.”
Within the new courtroom doc, Smithline says she felt “manipulated” by the ladies to make the allegations. She stated within the declaration of assist that she had denied being abused when talking with Wood in 2020.
“Once I stated, no this didn’t occur to me and this was not my expertise, I recall being instructed by Ms. Wood that simply because I couldn’t bear in mind didn’t essentially imply that it didn’t occur,” Smithline stated in her submitting.
Evan Rachel Wood says Marilyn Manson ‘horrifically abused me for years’
Feb. 4, 202104:29
Smithline filed a federal lawsuit in 2021 accusing Manson of sexual assault, human trafficking and illegal imprisonment. The go well with was dismissed with out prejudice by a decide final month after her lawyer, Jay Ellwanger, withdrew from her case and Smithline failed to reply to the courtroom’s request for a choice on new illustration.
Ellwanger has additionally represented “Recreation of Thrones” actor Esmé Bianco, a Manson accuser who settled her claims outdoors courtroom in January. Smithline stated in her declaration that it was Bianco who recommended Ellwanger as potential illustration.
Smithline accused Ellwanger of together with “unfaithful” claims of violence and non-consensual sexual exercise within the 2021 grievance he filed on her behalf within the District Courtroom for the Central District of California.
Ellwanger instructed NBC Information he couldn’t get into particulars relating to Smithline’s allegations in opposition to him, citing moral obligations of shopper confidentiality, however denied her characterization of his illustration as “categorically and verifiably false.”
Howard King, Manson’s lawyer, stated Thursday that Smithline’s testimony proves that the allegations in opposition to his shopper are unfaithful.
“As now we have all the time stated, the coordinated marketing campaign of #MeToo lies in opposition to Brian Warner goes to go down as one of many best hoaxes of all time,” King stated. “Susceptible ladies have been manipulated by unscrupulous people in search of to construct their very own manufacturers and pursue their very own vendettas.”
Wood has denied the allegations in Manson’s defamation go well with, which features a declare that she solid a letter from the FBI to persuade different ladies to participate in her documentary about abuse, “Phoenix Rising” which aired on HBO final 12 months.
In an opposition movement, Wood’s lawyer accused Manson of submitting the defamation go well with as retaliation for her choice to go public with her abuse allegations. The movement accuses Manson of attempting to silence Wood.
Wood testified to a Home Judiciary subcommittee in 2018 that she had been raped twice, first by an abusive accomplice after which by a person within the storage closet of a bar. She didn’t title her alleged abusers on the listening to.
In an Instagram publish in 2021, she accused Manson of “grooming me after I was a teen” and stated he “horrifically abused me for years.”
Manson has not been charged with any crime related to Wood’s allegations. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division submitted a case for evaluate to the district lawyer’s workplace in September following a 19-month investigation by the particular sufferer’s unit.
