Marilyn Manson has sued Evan Rachel Wood for defamation

Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood (composite picture)

(Image credit: Marilyn Manson: Kurt Krieger - Corbis | Evan Rachel Wood: Olivia Fougeirol/HBO)

Marilyn Manson is suing Evan Rachel Wood for defamation. The news comes in the wake of the release late last month of Phoenix Rising, the HBO documentary made by Woods and director Amy Berg that addresses the abuse allegations made against the singer.

According to court documents filed in Los Angeles, the action “arises from the wrongful and illegal acts done in furtherance of a conspiracy by Defendant Evan Rachel Wood and her on-again, off-again romantic partner, Defendant Ashley Gore, a/k/a Illma Gore, to publicly cast Plaintiff Brian Warner, p/k/a Marilyn Manson, as a rapist and abuser– a malicious falsehood that has derailed Warner’s successful music, TV, and film career.”

The suit alleges that Wood and Gore hacked into Manson's computers and social media accounts, manufactured evidence that he was emailing illicit pornography, impersonated an FBI agent, provided checklists of alleged crimes to prospective accusers, and knowingly made false statements and defamatory claims.

Manson’s attorney Howard King tells Deadline, “We’re filing this now because we have been able to gather an overwhelming trove of evidence – including both documents and witness statements – which proves that the stories that Evan Rachel Wood and her co-conspirator Illma Gore have been falsifying and spreading are both vindictive and demonstrably untrue."

Representatives for Wood have not yet responded to news of the lawsuit.

In the Phoenix Rising documentary, Wood alleges that she was “essentially raped on camera” by former fiancé Manson during the filming of the video for 2007's Heart-Shaped Glasses (When The Heart Guides The Hand) single.

Manson is currently facing several lawsuits, and is the subject of an active investigation by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.