Actress Evan Rachel Wooden acquired an Emmy nomination for her position in “Mildred Pierce” — however away from the highlight, she says she lived in a relentless nightmare.
Within the second half of “Phoenix Rising” — a two-part documentary set to air on HBO, starting March 15, that’s directed by Oscar- and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg — Wooden, 34, reveals she realized she was pregnant with the infant of her alleged abuser, Marilyn Manson, whereas engaged on that 2011 miniseries.
“From the start of our relationship, he at all times had a problem with no matter contraception I used to be utilizing — and I went by, like, each sort to see which one he preferred, and he didn’t like several of them, so primarily he didn’t need me utilizing contraception,” Wooden says within the movie, whose first half premiered during the Sundance Film Festival in January. She claims that Manson refused to put on a condom, and utilizing spermicides after intercourse didn’t work.
Wooden determined to terminate the being pregnant — and was shocked when Manson demanded she prepare dinner him a meal instantly after the abortion.
“He flew out for the abortion,” Wooden says on digital camera. “The second it was over it was like, ‘Make me dinner.’ And I keep in mind being like, ‘I’m imagined to be resting — my physique has gone by this trauma . . . there’s aftermath right here.’ And he didn’t care.”
The incident practically drove her to finish her personal life. At a later, unspecified, date, she says she tried to kill herself.
“I went into the lavatory and I took [a] glass and I shattered it on the ground and simply began digging at my wrists as onerous as I may,” Wooden tells her buddy, the artist and activist Illma Gore.
Whereas Wooden’s suicide try was in the end unsuccessful, it was a turning level, she says within the movie. “Once I wakened, I felt totally different. I really feel like whoever I used to be went to sleep and didn’t get up that night time, and this new model wakened and needed to begin rebuilding her life. I referred to as my mother and I mentioned, ‘I simply tried to kill myself, and I have to go to a hospital, like, instantly.’ ”
Drugged and alone
The “Westworld” actress first identified 53-year-old Manson, whose actual identify is Brian Warner, as her alleged abuser final February, after beforehand referring to a traumatic relationship with an nameless man within the press. “Phoenix Rising” tracks Wooden’s resolution to go public together with his identify, which in the end got here within the type of a press release posted on Instagram. Within the first a part of the documentary, Wooden’s explosive claims embody Manson forcing her to have intercourse on digital camera for his 2007 music video “Coronary heart-Formed Glasses.”
Wooden claims Manson’s abuse was incessant. She alleges that she was compelled into isolation inside his Spanish-style Los Angeles house the place she says she was stored in “freezing chilly” temperatures and disadvantaged of sleep.
The “True Blood” actress additionally says she believes Manson drugged her, with the whole lot from meth to sleeping drugs.
“That is additionally when he began raping me in my sleep,” Wooden says within the movie’s second half. “I’d get up, I simply keep in mind doing the psychological math shortly and considering, ‘Simply keep, simply keep asleep, don’t transfer, simply don’t transfer.’ So I might simply lie limp and nonetheless till it was over, after which I swear to God, he would simply fling my leg and stroll out of the room.”
Extra ladies’s tales
The day that Wooden got here ahead along with her prices final 12 months, several other women followed suit — two of whom seem within the movie’s second installment. The documentary reveals them assembly collectively in October of 2020, together with two former Manson assistants, together with Dan Cleary, who had recently posted a viral Twitter thread about how the shock-rocker “turned [Wood] into a distinct individual. He broke her.”
One of many ladies, recognized solely as Sarah, is mannequin Sarah McNeilly, whose own 2021 statement on Instagram included allegations that she was locked in rooms when she was “unhealthy” and “generally compelled to take heed to [Manson] entertaining different ladies.”
The opposite, recognized solely as Ashley S., is Ashley Morgan Smithline, who’s Jewish. In a 2021 Instagram post, she described Manson asking her to deliver him Nazi memorabilia house from a modeling gig in Thailand, which made her really feel “a lot guilt and disgrace.”
“I keep in mind this one time, it truly obtained bodily — and he, like, threw me up in opposition to a wall and had a baseball bat, and mentioned he was gonna smash my f – – king face in as a result of I used to be making an attempt to get him to select pants,” McNeilly says within the movie. Smithline, discussing how she wished to flee Manson, reveals, “I let my appendix burst. It went gangrenous, I went septic. I used to be, like, ‘Simply let me f – – king die, simply let me die so I don’t need to really feel this s – – t.’ ”
After briefly fleeing Manson’s house in 2009, Wooden later alleges that Manson lured her again in — and tells the group he did so by torture. Wooden, who’s additionally Jewish, alleges Manson tied her to a prayer kneeler inside his house and struck her repeatedly with a Nazi whip. He then allegedly shocked her welts and her “non-public components” with an electrode.
“It harm so unhealthy that I broke the kneeler in half,” Wooden advised the others. “I keep in mind in that second considering, ‘Simply inform him no matter he desires to listen to, simply inform him no matter he desires to listen to’ . . . and I mentioned, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.’ I used to be begging for forgiveness, and he was cradling me and saying, ‘You perceive now.’ After which he lower open his hand . . . and made me drink his blood. After which he lower me . . . and drank mine.”
Manson’s lawsuit
The movie then reveals headlines asserting Wooden had gotten again along with Manson. One, from Perez Hilton, who started calling Wooden “Evan Rachel Whore” following the “Coronary heart-Formed Glasses” video, proclaimed “Evan Rachel Whore and Marilyn Manson: ‘On’ Once more!” with the phrase “HO” scrawled over her head.
“The allegations that Evan Rachel Wooden has made in opposition to Marilyn Manson are latest,” Hilton advised The Submit in a press release when requested for touch upon his protection. “I consider her.”
Up to now, at the very least 15 ladies have accused Manson of sexual, emotional and bodily abuse; authorities have launched an investigation, however no prices have been introduced.
On Wednesday, Manson sued Wood in LA Superior Courtroom, charging that she and Gore have defamed him with rape allegations for their very own financial acquire and deliberately inflicted emotional misery upon him. The swimsuit alleges that Wooden’s 2021 Instagram assertion got here after “months of conspiring with Gore on how one can use Wooden’s celeb standing to recruit different ladies and coordinate their ‘tales,’ ” but in addition that they “derailed [Manson’s] profession” and used “Phoenix Rising” to “recruit, coordinate, and strain ladies who had been linked to Warner to make false accusations of abuse in opposition to him.”
“As we detailed in our lawsuit, nothing that Evan Rachel Wooden, Illma Gore or their hand-picked co-conspirators have mentioned on this matter might be trusted,” Manson’s legal professional, Howard King, advised The Submit in a press release relating to the movie. “That is simply extra of the identical.”
