Marilyn Manson drops lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood and agrees to pay her legal fees

Marilyn Manson has dropped his lawsuit against his ex Evan Rachel Wood and agreed to pay more than $300,000 to cover her attorneys' fees.

The shock rocker, whose real name is Brian Warner, initially filed the lawsuit in 2022, accusing the Westworld actress of defamation, infliction of emotional distress, and concocting a "conspiracy" with an associate to cast him as a rapist and abuser. Manson's lawsuit came a year after Wood publicly alleged that he groomed her as a teenager and "horrifically abused" her for years during their romantic relationship.

Last year a judge struck down 10 claims made by Manson in the suit, and now he and Wood have reached a settlement.

Michael J. Kump, an attorney for Wood, cast the news as a victory for his client in a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday. Manson, he said, "filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career. But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed. As the trial court correctly found, Warner's claims were meritless. Warner's decision to finally abandon his lawsuit and pay Ms. Wood her full fee award of almost $327,000 only confirms as much."

Manson's attorney, Howard E. King, said in a statement to EW, "After four years of fighting a battle where he was able to tell the truth, Brian is pleased to dismiss his still-pending claims and appeal in order to close the door on this chapter of his life."

Wood, 37, and Manson, 55, were in a romantic relationship from approximately 2006 to 2010. In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Wood said she had been raped "by a significant other while we were together," though she did not name them.

In a 2021 Instagram post, Wood wrote, "The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission."

Four other women came forward the same day to detail abuse allegations against Manson. He denied the claims, calling them "horrible distortions of reality."

Manson's lawsuit was filed about two weeks before the release of Phoenix Rising, an HBO documentary in which Wood delved into her allegations against Manson, including that he "essentially raped" her on the set of his "Heart-Shaped Glasses" music video. Manson denied Wood's allegations.