Marilyn Manson Drops Evan Rachel Wood Defamation Suit

Marilyn Manson is no longer suing Evan Rachel Wood. The shock-rocker dropped a defamation suit against Wood over her abuse claims against him, Rolling Stone reported. Manson will additionally pay more than $300,000 in attorney’s fees for Wood. Attorneys for Wood said Manson first attempted to settle the suit earlier this year, but Wood did not agree to keep the settlement confidential. “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,” attorneys for Wood said. “But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed.” An attorney for Manson said he “is pleased” to drop the case “in order to close the door on this chapter of his life.”

Manson’s lawsuit had already been gutted last year, under California’s anti-SLAPP lawsuit, which protects people like abuse victims from lawsuits being used as an intimidation tactic. In January, a judge ordered Manson to pay Wood $326,956 in attorney’s fees to defend the charges struck from his case. He then appealed the case in August.

Wood was the first and most prominent person to accuse Manson of sexual abuse, including rape, in 2021. More than a dozen women have come forward with other allegations since Wood spoke out, and in 2022, she made a documentary about her allegations. One of the claims struck from the lawsuit last year was Manson’s accusation that Wood recruited women to make accusations against him. In their new statement, Wood’s lawyers noted that a court found Manson’s “claims were meritless.”