WHERE THERE’S SMOKE

‘Like a Piece of Meat’: Marilyn Manson Faces Yet Another Sexual-Assault Lawsuit

Ashley Walters joins more than a dozen other women who have accused Manson of similarly disturbing behavior.

A former assistant is suing Marilyn Manson for sexual assault, battery, and harassment, alleging the singer subjected her to violent outbursts, abusive work hours, and offered her up to “influential industry friends and associates” as a carnal plaything, according to a court complaint cited by The Cut. Ashley Walters, 37, has now joined more than a dozen other women who have accused Manson of similarly disturbing behavior, including actresses Evan Rachel Wood, who claims Manson raped and beat her during the time they dated, and Esmé Bianco, who said Manson sexually assaulted, whipped, and electrocuted her over the course of their two years together. Walters first met Manson in 2010, after the singer contacted the aspiring photographer on MySpace to compliment her on her work, the lawsuit says. While at an awards show later that year, Walters’ suit alleges Manson “pushed [her] onto the lap of an actor and bragged that he could ‘have her.’ The actor proceeded to kiss Walters and keep her on his lap.” And it didn’t only happen once, according to The Cut, which quoted Walters as saying Manson, who was born Brian Warner, “expected her to please his friends, whether that meant bringing them food, flirting with them, or letting them touch her.”

“It made me feel like I was his property,” Walters told the Cut. “It just made me feel like a piece of meat.” Manson’s team said the singer “vehemently denied any accusations of assault.”