‘REPEATEDLY GASLIT’

Marilyn Manson Accuser Says She Was ‘Manipulated’ Into Making Allegations

Ashley Smithline now claims to have been “manipulated” by Evan Rachel Wood and others involved in the case.

A woman who previously sued disgraced rocker Marilyn Manson for sexual assault recanted her abuse allegations in a new declaration filed in court on Thursday, claiming actor Evan Rachel Wood and others involved in the case “manipulated” her into lying. Her reversal, first reported by Page Six, was filed by Manson’s lawyers as part of his ongoing defamation case against Wood and Gore. In it, Ashley Smithline characterized her 2010 relationship with Manson as “brief” and “consensual,” after which Wood, her girlfriend Ilma Gore, and two other alleged Manson victims—former assistant Ashley Walters and actor Esmé Bianco—“repeatedly gaslit” her about the experience. “I succumbed to pressure from Evan Rachel Wood and her associates to make accusations of rape and assault against Mr. Warner that were not true,” Smithline said. In a statement to People, a representative for Wood said, “Evan never pressured or manipulated Ashley. 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.”