Embattled rock icon Marilyn Manson has dropped his lawsuit against former fiancée Evan Rachel Wood and will pay her $327,000 in attorney fees, her lawyers confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, sued the “Westworld” actor in March 2022 for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The couple dated for three years, beginning when she was 19 and he was 37.
Evan Rachel Wood, in an image from “Showbiz Kids,” a frank documentary about the challenges of being a child actor.
(HBO)
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, accused Wood of hatching plans to manufacture sexual-abuse allegations against Manson and to profit from them, among other claims, according to the complaint.
Most of that lawsuit was thrown out after Wood petitioned for an anti-SLAPP exemption, a legal maneuver used to strike down frivolous and expensive lawsuits that can silence critics, and Manson was ordered to pay $327,000 in attorney fees.
Manson had appealed but reached out to settle, according to Wood’s lawyers.
A call to Manson’s legal representative was not immediately answered.
Manson initially offered to pay some of the fees in exchange for settlement terms of confidentiality and a “mutually acceptable” public statement, according to Wood’s attorneys.
Wood’s legal team rejected the proposal. Manson eventually agreed to the full settlement without confidentiality.
“Manson…filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career,” Michael J. Kump, Wood’s attorney, said in a statement. “But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed. As the trial court correctly found, Warner’s claims were meritless.”
The crux of the lawsuit revolved around Manson’s accusation that Wood and artist Illma Gore had orchestrated a campaign to cast him as a rapist and destroy his career.
Wood alleged in 2022 that Manson had “essentially raped” her during the filming of Manson’s 2007 “Heart-Shaped Glasses” music video.
That allegation was strenuously denied by Manson’s legal team, which eventually filed the complaint.
“Game of Thrones” actor Esme Bianco also sued the musician in 2021, alleging sexual assault, sexual battery and human trafficking. They settled the lawsuit in 2023 after Bianco said Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón “mishandled” the case.
Ashley Walters, Manson’s former assistant, also sued and alleged sexual assault and harassment. Court proceedings are expected to resume in January.
In 2023, Manson also settled with an unnamed woman who alleged that he had raped her in 2011.
