Marilyn Manson‘s (aka Brian Warner) defamation lawsuit against his ex-fiancée Evan Rachel Wood and her associates was stuck a large blow in court this week. A Los Angeles judge saw fit to side with Wood‘s camp on several of the key claims made in Manson‘s defamation suit.
Back in early 2021, Manson was hit flurry of sexual assault & sexual misconduct allegations in the immediate wake of Wood publicly accusing him of abusing her during their past relationship.
Several of those allegations developed into lawsuits, a number of which have since been resolved. Manson reached an undisclosed settlement with actress Esmé Bianco in January of this year. Bianco had originally accused Manson of sexual assault and more.
A sexual assault lawsuit filed by Manson’s ex-personal assistant Ashley Walters was dismissed back in May of 2022. In February of this year, another of Manson‘s accusers, Ashley Morgan Smithline, dropped her sexual assault lawsuit against him, claiming she was manipulated by Wood and her associate Ilma Gore into making the allegations. Wood denied Smithline‘s claims.
Smithline‘s claims played into Manson‘s May 2022 defamation suit against Wood and Gore, which insisted that the aforementioned pair had ‘recruited, coordinated, and pressured’ numerous women into making false statements and allegations against Manson. Ultimately, the court refused to consider Smithline‘s sworn declaration against Wood and Gore in this ongoing defamation suit.
Manson accused Wood and Gore of providing several women with a checklist and script for their allegations, while also alleging that the duo had impersonated a member of the FBI to further their campaign against him.
This week saw Judge Teresa A. Beaudet of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County strike down Manson‘s claims that Wood and Gore had conspired to coach and orchestrate several women into making allegations against him. Claims of the pair impersonating an FBI agent were also struck down, among others,
Per Rolling Stone, Wood‘s attorney Michael Kump offered, “as the Court correctly found, Plaintiff failed to show that his claims against her have even minimal merit.”
Manson‘s attorney Howard King however plans to appeal, telling Rolling Stone of this latest development, “The failure to admit this critical evidence [Smithline‘s sworn declaration], along with the Court’s decision to not consider Ms. Gore’s iPad, the contents of which demonstrated how she and Ms. Wood crafted a forged FBI letter, will be the subject of an immediate appeal to the California Court of Appeal.”
The defamation case is tentatively scheduled to go to trial on May 01st, 2024, but Manson‘s intentions to appeal will likely delay those proceedings.
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