Marilyn Manson-Evan Rachel Woods Defamation Case: 9 Things To Know

American actor Evan Rachel Woods and American musician and singer Marilyn Manson are in the middle of a lawsuit in which Woods claims that Manson abused her for years when they were in a relationship while Manson, who filed a defamation case against her, said that she is manipulating people against him.

Manson, earlier known as Brian Warner, has been involved in cases of abuse in the past as well. He was in a relationship with the Westland actor Evan Rachel Woods back in 2009 when he was 36 while she was just 18. The relationship was abusive as per the allegations made by Woods in 2021. Woods has always talked about being mentally and physically abused in a previous relationship but she revealed the name of her abuser in 2021.

Four other women who reportedly dated Manson too in the past came forward with their own stories of how they were abused by the singer. They filed a domestic abuse case against him and to counter their claims, Manson filed a defamation case against Woods, claiming she manipulated the accusers into speaking against him. Here's all you need to know about the case.

Marilyn Manson Evan Rachel Woods Case

1. Evan Rachel Woods and about five other ex-girlfriends of Marilyn Manson filed a lawsuit against him accusing him of mentally and physically abusing them, raping them and threatening them to keep their mouths shut.

2. Manson filed a defamation case in March 2022 against Woods and claimed that she was doing so to inflict emotional distress on him. The case was heard in Los Angeles Superior Court by Judge Teresa Beaudet.

3. In February 2023, one of Manson's accusers, his ex-girlfriend Ashley Morgan Smithline backed away from her accusations and claimed that Woods and her girlfriend Ilma Gore manipulated her to make false claims.

4. Manson requested the court to add the latest statements of Smithline in the lawsuit. He claimed that Woods coordinated, recruited and pressured these women to make false accusations against him. He claimed that their claims were scripted and that she even forged an FBI letter that talked about a criminal investigation involving Manson.

5. Meanwhile, Woods reportedly said that she indeed approached Smithline in 2019 but that was because she wanted to know her experience with Manson. She did not manipulate her into doing or saying anything.

6. The court eventually rejected Manson's request to add Smithline's declaration in the lawsuit which came as a major blow to Manson. Justice Beaudet gave another blow to him by recently calling his claims against Woods baseless.

7. The court called Manson's claims of Woods manipulating accusers to defame him invalid. His claims, that Woods and Ilma Gore also told accusers that he filmed the abuse of a minor for his 1996 short film Groupie without telling them that the actor was actually an adult, was also shot down.

8. The court cited free speech protection laws and the anti-SLAPP statute of California to support its decision. Anti-SLAPP aims at preventing people from silencing critics or intimidating them using lawsuits.

9. The court said that the lawsuit will proceed without these allegations and gave a trial date of May 1, 2024, for the case.

Picture credit: Dazed

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