American actor Evan Rachel Wood has vowed to ‘expose’ her relationship with Marilyn Manson, who she says brainwashed her.
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” Wood wrote on Instagram. “He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years.”
Wood and Manson’s relationship was made public in 2007 when she was 19 and he was 37. The rocker proposed to Wood in January 2010 but they broke up later that year.
“I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail,” the 33-year-old star added. “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.”
In 2018, the ‘Westworld’ actress shared her domestic violence and sexual abuse experience with the House Judiciary Committee in the US in order to get the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights passed in all 50 states.
“Amanda Nguyen, who wrote the Bill contacted me, just as a fellow survivor, and reached out. She said, you know, ‘We have passed this on a federal level, but it still has to be implemented in all states, and we need to bring more awareness to it’,” Wood said in a statement.
“She said: ‘You have a platform and you also have a story, so will you come and say it in front of Congress?’ And I was like, well, I have really only told my story to about five people, I can count on one hand, so to go from that to everyone, to the world knowing, it was overwhelming.”
