Marilyn Manson files defamation suit against sexual abuse accuser Evan Rachel Wood

Marilyn Manson in December 2019. In Wednesday’s filing, Manson accused Wood and Gore of ‘falsifying and spreading’ allegations against him. Photograph: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Marilyn Manson has filed a lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood for defamation over the actor’s sexual abuse allegations against him.

Manson, the American “shock rocker” born Brian Warner, filed the complaint in Los Angeles superior court on Wednesday. The complaint accuses Wood and her “on-again, off-again” partner Ashley “Illma” Gore, of depicting him as “a rapist and abuser – a malicious falsehood that has derailed Warner’s successful music, TV, and film career.”