Ashley Morgan Smithline has recanted her original allegations against Marilyn Manson and claims that actress Evan Rachel Wood manipulated her into speaking out against the shock-rocker
Just last month, a judge in Los Angeles dismissed Smithline’s sexual assault lawsuit filed against Manson after she failed to appoint new legal representation following her original lawyer’s decision to withdraw from the case.
The recanting has come to light in a declaration filed by Manson’s lawyers as part of their ongoing suit against Wood, who is being sued by Manson and his legal team, for defamation and emotional distress.
“I remember [Wood] asked me whether I had been, among other things, whipped, chained, tied up, branded/cut, assaulted while sleeping, beaten, or raped,” Smithline claims. “She said all of these things happened to Ms. Wood and others, and that when Ms. Wood was with Mr. Warner every moment was a moment of survival.
“When I said, ‘No, this did not happen to me and this was not my experience,’ I recall being told by Ms. Wood that just because I could not remember did not necessarily mean that it did not happen. Eventually, I started to believe that what I was repeatedly told happened to Ms. Wood and Ms. [Esme] Bianco also happened to me.”
Actress Esme Bianco sued Marilyn Manson for rape, sexual assault and trafficking in May 2021, however the case was settled out of court last month. Rolling Stone, who were given an official statement on the matter, reported that Bianco’s lawyer, Jay Ellwanger, said, “Ms. Bianco has agreed to resolve her claims against Brian Warner and Marilyn Manson Records, Inc. in order to move on with her life and career.”
Numerous women have come forward accusing Manson of abuse, including his former assistant Ashley Walters, who claimed that he subjected her to “personal and professional sexual exploitation, manipulation and psychological abuse.” That lawsuit was dismissed by a judge last year for exceeding the statute of limitations. That case is currently under appeal.