One of the women who accused Marilyn Manson of sexual assault alongside the actress Evan Rachel Wood in 2021, Ashley Morgan Smithline (AKA Ashley Lindsay Morgan), says in a new legal filing that the allegations were untrue and that she was “manipulated” by Wood, according to a new report.
Last year, Manson, the rock singer whose real name is Brian Warner, sued Wood, who is his ex-fiancée, for defamation, claiming she had formed a conspiracy against him.
The new statement from Smithline, filed by the singer’s lawyers on Thursday (Feb. 23), claims she was “manipulated by Ms. Wood” to agree to “spread publicly false accusations of abuse” against Manson.
“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 writes in the sworn statement, Billboard reported. “I started to believe that what I was repeatedly told happened to Ms. Wood and [others] also happened to me.”
A spokesperson for Wood strongly denied Smithline’s accusations. “Evan never pressured or manipulated Ashley,” they said. “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.”
Two years ago this month, Wood publicly named Manson as her alleged abuser. Simultaneously, four other women — Smithline, Sarah McNeilly, Ashley Walters and a woman named Gabriella — joined Wood by each sharing their own separate accusations.
At the time, Manson refuted the accusations. He said, in part, “Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality.”
Smithline sued the musician in June 2021. A judge dismissed the lawsuit earlier this year. Smithline spoke to People about her original claims against Manson in 2021.
See a timeline of the allegations against the singer below.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, resources are available to help. Visit RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) online or call 1-800-656-HOPE (1-800-656-4673).
Timeline of Abuse Allegations Against Marilyn Manson
After actress Evan Rachel Wood publicly accused Marilyn Manson of abuse in 2021, similar allegations by others against the rock singer also surfaced. Below is a timeline, starting with Wood’s 2018 testimony that disclosed her alleged abuse but didn’t name Manson. The musician, whose real name is Brian Warner, has denied the allegations. Several accusers subsequently sued him. He sued Wood in 2022.
