A lady who accused Marilyn Manson of sexual abuse has recanted her allegation, claiming she was manipulated into mendacity by his ex Evan Rachel Wooden.
Ashley Morgan Smithline was certainly one of a number of ladies who had accused Manson – whose actual identify is Brian Warner – of sexual abuse over the previous two years. Nonetheless, she has now recanted her allegation.
In a declaration, she alleged that she was “manipulated by Ms Wooden” till she agreed to “unfold publicly false accusations of abuse”, referencing Manson’s ex-fiancée.
“I succumbed to stress from Evan Rachel Wooden and her associates to make accusations of rape and assault in opposition to Mr Warner that weren’t true,” Smithline alleged in a declaration obtained by Web page Six on Thursday. “Ultimately, I began to consider that what I used to be repeatedly informed occurred to Ms Wooden and (others) additionally occurred to me.”
Manson’s legal professional Howard King informed the outlet that Smithline contacted the musician to apologise final week.
“For a second in time, having been questioned so many occasions by Evan Rachel Wooden about this ‘repressed reminiscence’ and being informed, ‘You are not remembering what occurred,’ she believed it for a minute,” King said.
In an announcement to Billboard, a spokesperson for Wooden strongly denied Smithline’s new accusations.
“Evan by no means pressured or manipulated Ashley. It was Ashley who first contacted Evan concerning the abuse she had suffered,” the spokesperson stated. “It is unlucky that the harassment and threats Ashley acquired after submitting her federal lawsuit seem to have pressured her to alter her testimony.”
Wooden first claimed Manson was abusive throughout their relationship in February 2021. After the Westworld actress spoke out, sexual abuse lawsuits in opposition to him adopted from Smithline, Manson’s former assistant Ashley Walters, Recreation of Thrones actress Esme Bianco, and two Jane Does.
Final month, Smithline’s case was dismissed after she didn’t discover a new lawyer. Walters’s lawsuit was thrown out final 12 months and Bianco reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement with Manson in January.
Manson, who has maintained his innocence, is at the moment suing Wooden for defamation for publicly casting him as a “rapist and abuser” on social media and in her HBO documentary Phoenix Rising. Smithline appeared within the documentary.
