Marilyn Manson hung up on an interview with Metal Hammer after being asked about Evan Rachel Wood.
Over the past few years, Wood has shared her experience with sexual abuse and domestic violence in front of government bodies, including in 2018 with the House Judiciary Committee and in 2019 with the California Senate.
In the 2018 testimony, Wood described being the survivor of “toxic mental, physical and sexual abuse” that included “threats against my life, severe gaslighting and brainwashing,” as well as “sick rituals” and “waking up to the man that claimed to love me raping what he believed to be my unconscious body.” In 2019, she described being in a relationship with a man at age 18, who abused her “through means of starvation, sleep deprivation and threats against my life.”
Wood did not name her abuser in either testimony, but she and Manson were reportedly dating starting in 2006, when she would’ve been 18 or 19. While users on social media have speculated that Wood was talking about Manson in her testimonies, neither party has commented on or confirmed that publicly.
In an article published by Metal Hammer on Tuesday, the U.K. publication writes that its interview with Manson, which took place this past September, was cut short after the interviewee brought up Wood.
“Marilyn Manson hung up on us as soon as we mentioned her name, and his people refused to have him answer any further question,” Metal Hammer says.
The magazine then followed up with Manson’s U.K. PR team with 10 other questions, but were told that “We have advised our client not to comment further on your article.”
“Personal testimony is just that, and we think it’s inappropriate to comment on that,” the rep said in a statement.
The statement also addresses comments that Manson made in a 2009 SPIN interview, including that he fantasized about “smashing [Wood’s] skull in with a sledgehammer” while they were broken up and that he cut himself after each of the 158 times he called her in one day.
“The comments in Spin…[were] obviously a theatrical rock star interview promoting a new record, and not a factual account,” the statement says.
By Josh Johnson
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.