Big win for Evan Rachel Wood!
In the Superior Court of California on Tuesday, a judge sided with the 35-year-old actress in the ongoing defamation case brought on by her ex-fiancé. After she came out about his alleged abuse, Marilyn Manson AKA Brian Warner dropped a WILD defamation lawsuit on her.
The Westworld star accused him of “grooming” and sexual abuse throughout their 3-year relationship, which began when she was still a teenager — and ended in 2010. The Instagram post from 2021 sparked a conversation about the rocker’s behavior, which led to several other women coming forward with allegations of their own. He faced several lawsuits from those who claim he raped, assaulted, and even trafficked them – including Game of Thrones actress Esme Bianco, his former assistant Ashley Walters, model Ashley Morgan Smithline (who has since withdrawn her accusations), and another accuser who wished to remain anonymous. Earlier this year Bianco actually settled her suit against Manson, but there’s no word if anyone else has.
In the documentary Phoenix Rising, Wood also claimed she was “essentially raped” by Manson while working on his 2007 music video for the song Heart-Shaped Glasses, which just adds to the list of the horrifying abuse she said she was experiencing with her ex-lover.
Seriously sickening stuff — but the lawsuit he filed in response was another type of disgusting!
In his own suit, Manson claimed the actress made a fake FBI letter and “recruited” other women to speak out against him! He not only said she and all these other women were making this up, he accused Evan of pushing them all into it. Many pointed to his pal Johnny Depp‘s defamation suit win as a blueprint the shock rocker was following.
However, Manson’s defamation suit didn’t go so well. On Tuesday LA Superior Court Judge Teresa A. Beaudet threw out ten of his accusations as meritless, granting Evan’s “special motion to strike” the statements. Judge Beaudet also cited the anti-SLAPP motion — a statute that protects people like Wood’s first-amendment rights by not allowing suspected abusers to shut them up with lawsuits. Meritless defamation lawsuits have become too much of a problem when it comes to domestic abuse victims, apparently, as they provide another avenue to oppress victims.
Beaudet tossed the claims of Evan’s letter to the FBI, the checklist she allegedly made up for victims to follow, and eight other statements. Manson can still proceed with a lawsuit — but with all the most incendiary claims removed, he may not even bother.
Evan’s lead attorney Michael Kump told Deadline about the judge’s order:
“We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling, which affirms and protects Evan’s exercise of her fundamental First Amendment rights. As the Court correctly found, Plaintiff failed to show that his claims against her have even minimal merit.”
As for Manson, his attorney Howard King voiced his client’s displeasure with the judge’s ruling, saying:
“The ruling is disappointing but not unexpected. The Court telegraphed this outcome when it refused to consider the bombshell sworn declaration of former plaintiff Ashley Smithline, which detailed how women were systematically pressured by Evan Rachel Wood and Illma Gore to make false claims about Brian Warner. The failure to admit this critical evidence, 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.”
Wood may still have to face Manson in a trial, but things seem to be going in her favor so far. Reactions, Perezcious readers?
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