Marilyn Manson Gives Up Defamation Suit Against Evan Rachel Wood After He Already Had to Pay Her Legal Fees

Marilyn Manson on Monday gave up the entirety of the defamation lawsuit he had filed in 2022 against Evan Rachel Wood, his former fiancée whose sexual assault and abuse accusations against the musician in 2021 ignited a flurry of other allegations against Manson from multiple women, some of which have since been settled out of court.

Manson had already been ordered by the Los Angeles County Superior Court in January to pay Wood's legal fees in the case — to the tune of $326,956 — at the same time as a judge dismissed a good portion of the defamation suit. As of this week, however, the entire suit against Wood has been dropped by Manson, per a legal agreement the Antichrist Superstar singer signed on Nov. 25 and the Westwood actress signed the week prior on Nov. 19.

Explaining the development to Deadline Hollywood on Tuesday, Wood's attorney, Michael Kump, said, "Marilyn Manson — whose real name is Brian Warner — filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career. But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed."

He added, "As the trial court correctly found, Warner's claims were meritless. Warner's decision to finally abandon his lawsuit and pay Ms. Wood her full fee award of almost $327,000 only confirms as much."

Wood and Manson were in a relationship from 2006 to 2010. Wood was 19 when they began dating, while Manson was 36. They were briefly engaged in 2010. In February 2021, Wood named Manson as her alleged abuser after years of discussing her experiences with domestic violence without identifying him. She accused him of grooming her as a teenager, and subjecting her to emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

After Wood's statement, several other women came forward with allegations against Manson, accusing him of sexual assault, psychological abuse, and other forms of misconduct. In March 2022, Manson filed the defamation lawsuit against Wood and her partner Illma Gore, accusing them of conspiring to tarnish his reputation and fabricating evidence. Wood stood by her allegations.

Several lawsuits have been filed against Manson. Last year, a court dismissed a lawsuit against Manson brought by Ashley Morgan Smithline after she failed to hire a new attorney to represent her within the timeframe granted by the court. Smithline later recanted her accusations against Manson, saying she had been "manipulated" by Wood into making them, which Wood subsequently denied.

Manson has refuted all the allegations. "My art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality," he said in 2021."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."

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