Marilyn Manson Drops Defamation Lawsuit Against Evan Rachel Wood, Will Pay Her $327,000 Legal Fees

Marilyn Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, has settled his lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood, in which the musician had alleged defamation a year after Wood came forward with sexual abuse allegations against him. As part of the agreement reached on Nov. 19, Manson will pay roughly $327,000 in attorneys’ fees for the “Westworld” star, according to legal documents obtained by Variety.

“Marilyn Manson — whose real name is Brian Warner — 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. But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed,” Michael J. Kump, an attorney for Wood, wrote in a statement to press. “As the trial court correctly found, Warner’s claims were meritless. Warner’s decision to finally abandon his lawsuit and pay Ms. Wood her full fee award of almost $327,000 only confirms as much.”

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Warner’s defamation claim alleged that Wood’s co-defendant, her “on-again, off-again romantic partner” Illma Gore, falsely said that the musician had employed an underaged actress in a music video and “filmed the sexual assault of a minor.” In the original March 2022 filing, Warner’s lawyers alleged that Gore had “publicly cast” the musician as a “rapist and abuser — a malicious falsehood that has derailed Warner’s successful music, TV and film career.” The 2022 filing also claimed that Wood and Gore impersonated an FBI agent “by forging and distributing a fictitious letter from the agent, to create the false appearance that Warner’s alleged ‘victims’ and their families were in danger, and that there was a federal criminal investigation of Warner ongoing.”

“After four years of fighting a battle where he was able to tell the truth, Brian is pleased to dismiss his still-pending claims and appeal in order to close the door on this chapter of his life,” Howard King, an attorney for Warner, said in a statement.

After Manson’s defamation lawsuit was filed, Wood’s attorneys — Kump Shawn Holley and Katherine Kleindienst of Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir LLP — sought to dismiss the bulk of it under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which motions to strike a complaint that arises from exercising free speech First Amendment rights. In 2023, the court granted the motion and ordered Warner to reimburse Wood attorneys’ fees shortly thereafter. After appealing the ruling, Warner’s side allegedly looked to settle the lawsuit more favorably, offering a portion of legal fees to go along with a confidentiality agreement and a “mutually acceptable” public statement by Wood. After rejecting that settlement, Warner has now settled the lawsuit and will pay $327,000.

Wood was one of several women who publicly alleged sexual abuse against Warner in 2021. The pair’s relationship became public in 2007, when she was 19 and he was 38. They were engaged in 2010, but broke up shortly after. In an Instagram post at the time, the actor wrote: “The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.”