BREAKING BRIAN WARNER: The women who refused to let the Marilyn Manson story die
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail.”
When Evan Rachel Wood named Marilyn Manson as her abuser in February, it seemed to catch parts of the media world off guard. Former friends and colleagues rushed to distance themselves from him, as those who had been lined up to work with him scattered. Manson had been set to star in TV shows Creepshow and American Gods, but as the allegations broke, his appearances were swiftly axed. His manager jumped ship and his record label dropped him. From the outside, it was chaos.
But sitting watching it all unfold was a community of women for whom it came as no surprise at all. They’d been trying to tell people about it for years.
Alex* was born in Belfast in the early 90s. A so-called ‘ceasefire baby’, she grew up at a time when The Troubles were beginning to shift from all-out war towards a cautious peace. Any sense of division had melted away by the time Alex and her generation were teenagers and Belfast’s alternative scene was thriving, buoyed by a newfound sense of freedom and scepticism for the establishment – particularly organised religion and the damage it could cause. As far as countercultural icons went, for these kids, Manson was everything.
Alex appreciated Manson more for what he represented than for his music, and was drawn to his ethos that “outsiders are the accepting people; everybody else is the enemy”. But she was also a fan of Wood. She knew that the pair had dated and recognised Wood in Manson’s music videos at the time. So when Wood began to share details of an abusive relationship years later, Alex was listening.
In 2016, Wood gave an interview to magazine where she spoke about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse. In 2018, she testified in front of the California State Senate on behalf on the Phoenix Act – a bill Wood designed, which extended the statute of limitations on domestic violence felonies from three to five years. In magazine, shared with the caption: “The day of this photoshoot, I was so weakened by an abusive relationship. I was emaciated, severely depressed, and could barely stand. I fell into a pool of tears and was sent home for the day. #IAmNotOk”.
