By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Authorities in Los Angeles are investigating allegations of domestic violence by rock singer Marilyn Manson, the LA County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement on Friday.
“Westworld” TV and film actress Evan Rachel Wood and three other women said earlier this month in social media posts that Manson had abused them.
On Friday, the LA County Sheriff’s Department said its special victims unit was “investigating allegation(s) of domestic violence involving Mr. Brian Warner also known as ‘Marilyn Manson,’ who works in the music industry.”
“The incidents occurred between 2009 and 2011 when Mr. Warner lived in the city of West Hollywood,” the statement said.
No other details were provided.
Representatives for Manson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. On Feb. 1, Manson said on Instagram that all of his intimate relationships had been “entirely consensual” and that “others are now choosing to misrepresent the past.”
“These recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality,” he said at the time.
Wood, 33, who dated Manson, 52, from around 2007 and was briefly engaged to him in 2010, said the singer “horrifically abused me for years” and “I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission.”
The three other women also accused Manson of emotional and psychological abuse in the last 10 years.
Manson’s record label, Loma Vista Recordings, dropped him in early February after the public accusations.
The singer and songwriter is known for his Gothic-inspired black outfits and heavy make-up. His hits include “The Dope Show” and “Personal Jesus.”
Dozens of men in entertainment, politics, business and sports have been accused of sexual misconduct or emotional abuse since the #MeToo movement went viral in 2017 following multiple allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein was sentenced in 2020 to 23 years in prison.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
