Marilyn Manson Headed Back to Court to Face Previously Dismissed Sex Abuse Charges
It’s been hard to keep up with the range of charges and lawsuits leveled against little Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson) since the dam holding back years of sexual assault, battery, and other allegations finally broke in recent years. Some cases are still pending, others have been decided, and in more than one case, some have been dismissed entirely by the judge.
Yet one such case is back in the spotlight after Manson’s ex-assistant Ashley Walters was granted an appeal on the previous judge’s dismissal. Originally filed in Los Angeles Superior Court back in 2022, Walters alleged in her lawsuit that Manson committed “sexual assault, battery, and harassment” while employed by the embattled shock rocker.
Originally, the suit was thrown out of court by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern because Walters had apparently gone past the statute of limitations and had failed to prove why that statute should be ignored.
However, in a report by Billboard, it turns out Walters was granted her appeal after she claimed being unable to remember certain events because she’d repressed them. It wasn’t until she’d sought help from mental health professionals that she was able to remember everything that happened to her. The section of the appeal dealing with that revelation says as much:
“‘Until she received diagnosis and treatment, Walters [says she] was unable to remember the repressed events, and once she did recall them, she was unable to immediately identify these events as abuse,’ the court wrote. These allegations of suppressed memories and psychological blocking are sufficient to withstand [dismissal].”
According to the original lawsuit, Walters said Manson would routinely fly into “drug induced fits of rage” during which the singer “threw dishes at Walters, threatened to commit suicide and even pushed her into a wall.” He is also said to have encouraged friends to grope her and kiss her without her consent, and did so himself at least once.
Walters further claimed that Manson would sometimes make her stay awake for up to 48 hours without break, and once forcing her “to stand for 12 hours straight on a chair while taking pictures of him” as he “fed her cocaine to force her to stay awake.” In another instance, he allegedly boasted that he’d “gotten away with” raping women and that he regularly said he “wanted to kill women he was involved with.”
Walters’ claims fell in line with past allegations made by two of Manson’s former girlfriends and current accusers, the actors Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) and Ésme Bianco (Game of Thrones), saying she brought food and water to the women in secret when Manson had made them afraid to leave their rooms. Walters says she once saw Manson “throw a prop skull so hard at Wood that it left a large raised welt in her stomach.”
Walters later amended her lawsuit to claim that Manson barred her from participating in an HBO Documentary about her employer’s ongoing legal issues. According to the lawsuit, she was threatened with legal action if she was part of the documentary.
At the time — and presumably now — Manson’s legal reps “vehemently denied” the allegations. No trial date has been set as of yet.
