A woman is suing Marilyn Manson, alleging he groomed and sexually assaulted her several times throughout the 1990s, including when she was a minor.
Manson used “his role, status, and power as an adult and performer in the music industry to gain access to, groom, manipulate, and exploit the Plaintiff, resulting in sexual assault in two separate incidents,” the lawsuit states. The suit was filed Monday in New York’s Nassau County Supreme Court.
Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, has previously been accused of abuse by at least 15 women, including Westworld actor Evan Rachel Wood. Less than a week ago, he settled a lawsuit brought upon by Game of Thrones actor Esmé Bianco that accused him of rape and other acts of abuse brought upon by Game of Thrones actor Esmé Bianco. Manson previously denied wrongdoing, and the terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed.
A spokesperson for Manson did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the new lawsuit on Monday. But in February 2021, after Evan Rachel Wood first accused him of abuse, he called the allegations “distortions of reality” in a statement posted on Instagram.
“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. “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
According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by BuzzFeed News, the Maryland woman — identified only as Jane Doe — was first assaulted by the musician in 1995 after one of his shows. Manson invited the then-16-year-old fan onto his tour bus, the complaint states, where he allegedly raped her while a member of his band watched.
“After he was done, Defendant Warner laughed at her,” the complaint states. He then allegedly demanded she “get the fuck off of [his] bus” and said “if she told anyone, he would kill her and her family.”
The lawsuit alleges that, days later, Jane Doe began taking drugs for the first time in her life, which began “an addiction with drugs and alcohol that continued for many years.” Manson allegedly began calling the teenager a few weeks later and soliciting her for explicit photos.
The filing alleges that, about three months after their first meeting and as a result of Manson’s “encouragement and insistence,” the 16-year-old traveled to see him in concert again in New Orleans, where she was given free tickets and a venue access pass and again taken onto Manson’s tour bus after the show.
On the bus, Manson allegedly “groomed” the teenager “by complimenting her, playing with her hair, and looking at the photos and drawings she brought with her.” He then “became more aggressive and again sexually assaulted” her, the lawsuit alleges.
In 1999, when she was 19, the plaintiff claims they reconnected with Manson, who was on tour at the time. Over the next four weeks, Manson allegedly “continued to groom and sexually assault” her, including coercing her into having sex with him or other band members, tightly controlling her every move, and giving her alcohol and drugs.
The lawsuit alleges Manson also emotionally abused her during this time, including ridiculing her in front of other young female fans. In some instances, he allegedly “called her racial slurs and called her fat.” The lawsuit also claims Manson isolated Jane Doe from her family, “telling her that no one understands her other than him,” after the young woman opened up to him about not feeling supported by her family.
The woman “had not recovered from the original childhood sexual assaults and grooming” by Manson, the lawsuit states, noting that she was still addicted to drugs and alcohol at that time and “was susceptible” to Manson’s influence as a powerful celebrity. As a result, she “was lured into [Manson’s] dark world of drugs, alcohol, sexual deviance, harassment, abuse and assault,” the suit contends.
Manson isn’t the only defendant in the lawsuit. His former labels, Interscope Records and the now-defunct Nothing Records, are also named, based on “information and belief” that they were aware of his “practice of sexually assaulting minors, and aided and abetted such behavior.”
“Defendant Warner’s pedophilic obsessions and violent behaviors were not only known by Defendants Interscope and Nothing Records, but they were celebrated and promoted for their collective financial gain,” the lawsuit states.
BuzzFeed News has reached out to Interscope, which owned the Nothing Records, for comment.
Attorney Karen Barth Menzies, who is representing the anonymous woman in Monday’s lawsuit, told BuzzFeed News why Manson’s labels were also being sued.
“Sexual predators in the music industry don’t act alone,” she said in a statement. “It takes a network of people to aid and protect the artists who commit these heinous acts.”
She continued, “In order for there to be meaningful changes in the music industry, we have to do more than just hold the predators accountable.”
