NEW YORK (AFP) - Westworld (2016 to present) star Evan Rachel Wood on Monday (Feb 1) accused goth industrial rocker Marilyn Manson of being a "dangerous man" who subjected her to years of abuse starting when she was a teenager.
The American actress, who began working in entertainment as a child, has in the past alleged abuse by an ex-partner whom she kept anonymous, but on Monday identified her abuser as "Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson".
In an Instagram post, Manson denied the allegations, calling them "horrible distortions of reality."
Wood, 33, had earlier said the vocalist "started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years". She described herself as "brainwashed and manipulated" by Manson but said she had had enough of living in fear of "retaliation, slander, or blackmail".
"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," she added.
Wood reposted allegations by four other women of rape and sexual and psychological abuse by 52-year-old Manson, as well as druggings, intimidation, violence and death threats.
Within hours, Manson's record label, Loma Vista Recordings, announced it was parting ways with the artiste.
"In light of today's disturbing allegations by Evan Rachel Wood and other women naming Marilyn Manson as their abuser, Loma Vista will cease to further promote his current album, effective immediately," the label said in a statement, saying it also was cutting ties with Manson going forward.
Shortly thereafter, the artiste categorically denied all accusations against him.
"Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality," he wrote in an Instagram post.
"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, that is the truth."
'Gaslighting and brainwashing'
Manson gained a cult following in the 1990s with his eponymous band, named after the Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe and the serial killer Charles Manson.
Almost always appearing in ghostly pale pancake make-up, heavy eyeliner, painted lips and slicked black hair, Manson cultivated a controversial image after co-founding the group in 1989.
His albums, laden with occult references, include Portrait Of An American Family (1994), Antichrist Superstar (1996) and Mechanical Animals (1998).
In 2018, shortly after the Harvey Weinstein scandal unleashed a slew of abuse accusations against powerful men, a police report was filed against Manson, citing unspecified sex crimes dating back to 2011.
The Los Angeles district attorney dismissed the case, saying the statute of limitations had expired and noting an "absence of corroboration". The goth rocker was engaged to Wood before the pair broke it off in 2010. Their relationship had first been reported in 2007, when Wood was 19.
In 2017, Manson notably dismissed his bandmate, Jeordie White, from the group after the bassist's former girlfriend accused White of rape.
Wood broke into the mainstream with her leading role in the 2003 film Thirteen, a depiction based on a true story of two teenagers whose lifestyles grow increasingly destructive as they experiment with sex and hard drugs, developing petty crime habits.
The part earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and she cemented her star status with a number of film roles in the years that followed, including 2008's The Wrestler, directed by Darren Aronofsky.
Wood was rumoured to have been a factor in Manson's divorce from burlesque superstar Dita von Teese.
The musician also dated and was engaged to actress Rose McGowan, who is among the most high-profile women to have accused Weinstein.
McGowan cited a "lifestyle difference" in explaining the end of their relationship.
In 2018, Wood gave a harrowing account of her experiences of abuse in the United States Congress, without naming anyone.
"My experience with domestic violence was this: Toxic mental, physical and sexual abuse which started slow but escalated over time, including threats against my life, severe gaslighting and brainwashing, waking up to the man that claimed to love me raping what he believed to be my unconscious body," she said.
