Evan Rachel Wood has submitted court documents denying that she pressured a former Marilyn Manson accuser into making allegations against Manson, saying the woman initiated contact with her through social media.
Last week, Ashley Morgan Smithline, who had sued Manson and publicly accused him of abuse, filed a declaration of support for Manson in Los Angeles County Superior Court in his defamation case against Wood. Smithline said in the document that she publicly accused Manson of sexual assault and sexual battery only because she was pressured by Wood.
Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, filed a defamation suit last year accusing Wood of having “secretly recruited, coordinated and pressured” women to accuse him of abuse.
Wood has said Manson “horrifically abused” her for years.
He has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the accusations.
In the latest legal filing, Wood also denied ever having coerced or pressured women to make claims against Manson. She said Smithline first made contact with her in 2019, more than a year before Smithline alleges Wood reached out to her to meet with fellow accusers.
Communicating on social media
Wood, who denies that she pressured Smithline to make accusations, included in the filing what she says is a screenshot of Instagram comments made by Smithline.
“Specifically, on March 11, 2019, I posted an Instagram post with quotes about being a survivor of domestic violence from a podcast on which I had appeared,” Wood said in the filing. “At that time, I had spoken publicly about being a survivor of abuse — including in testimony before the United States Congress — but I had not yet publicly named Mr. Warner as my abuser.”
An account that Wood said was Smithline’s said Wood’s post had hit her “hard.”
“when he had me captive in the stupid ballet studio, i cringed hearing him brag about replaying that scene from rules of attraction to you… i thought no one would ever talk about this…” the comment read,…
Read the full article here