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Marilyn Manson Accuser Recants Rape Allegations, Says Evan Rachel Wood ‘Pressured’ Her
Ashley Morgan Smithline says she was “repeatedly gaslit” by the "Westworld" actress related to sexual abuse allegations involving Marilyn Manson.
An ex-girlfriend of Marilyn Manson, who had alleged the rock star sexually abused her, has now walked back the claims, saying the rape allegations were “false.”
Ashley Morgan Smithline has filed a declaration of support defending Manson and renouncing past accusations she’d made against the embattled musician, NBC News reported. The declaration, which is part of a 2022 defamation lawsuit against actor and Manson accuser, Evan Rachel Wood, was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday.
Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, has long denied the allegations made by Wood and other alleged victims.
This week, Smithline, who had sued Manson in 2021 for sexual assault and battery, now says Wood “pressured” her into posing as a victim as part of a “coordinated” effort to smear Manson.
"I succumbed to pressure from Evan Rachel Wood and her associates to make accusations of rape and assault against [Manson] that were not true," Smithline wrote in the declaration, People reported.
The model and former partner of Manson now says she was "repeatedly gaslit" by Wood and others in her orbit, such as the 54-year-old musician’s former assistant, Ashley Walters.
Smithline originally spoke out against Manson related to the rape and battery allegations during an interview with People magazine in May 2021.
She previously told Rolling Stone that Manson had held her against her will in an emotional torture room fabricated out of a recording booth in his apartment, which was nicknamed “the Bad Girls’ Room.”
“Even if I was screaming, no one would hear me,” Smithline recounted. "First you fight, and he enjoys the struggle. I learned to not fight it, because that was giving him what he wanted. I just went somewhere else in my head.”
Smithline also previously accused the shock rocker of carving his initials into her flesh, whipping her and raping her while she was unconscious.
In her newly filed declaration, Smithline now insists that she and Manson had a “brief, consensual sexual relationship” beginning in 2010.
Smithline also accused her then-attorney, Jay Ellwanger, of pushing her to go on a publicity tour in the wake of the bombshell allegations against Manson.
Ellwanger told People that Smithlinee’s claims that he “pressured” her to speak out against Manson are “categorically and verifiably false.”
Attorneys representing Wood have also since denied the allegations made by Smithline.
“Evan never pressured or manipulated Ashley,” her lawyers said in a statement, per NBC News. "It was Ashley who first contacted Evan about the abuse she had suffered. It's unfortunate that the harassment and threats Ashley received after filing her federal lawsuit appear to have pressured her to change her testimony."
Smithline’s case against Manson had been dismissed without prejudice by a judge in January. Manson has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 15 other victims.
