At 19, Evan Rachel Wood starred in 38-year-old Marilyn Manson's music video for "Heart-Shaped Glasses." She says he fed her absinthe and had sex with her for real in front of the crew.
Years later, after she named him publicly, Manson sued her for defamation. He ended up dropping his own lawsuit and paying over $300,000 for her lawyers.
In the video below, she tells it herself, starting with the shoot.
They met at the Chateau Marmont when she was 18 and he was 37, still married to Dita Von Teese.
On the music video set, she was the youngest person in the room. There was no nudity clause and no closed set. She didn't think her clothes were coming off that day.
Before the cameras rolled, she was given absinthe. Someone on set later told her Manson had privately asked wardrobe for underwear that could be easily ripped off.
When the scene started, she froze.
"His hands are around my neck. His face is pressed into my face. Even if I wanted to say no, I couldn't say no."
The video has been watched tens of millions of times. It is still up on YouTube.
At home, whenever Manson put on his stage makeup, she knew he would trash the house. She locked herself in the bathroom so often that she strung lights and put music inside. Once, she ducked as he swung a heavy cane at her head. It hit the doorframe beside her and snapped in half.
She tried to leave seven times before it stuck.
In 2021, at the peak of her run on HBO's Westworld, she named him on Instagram. Manson sued her for defamation and fraud.
After a judge threw out most of his claims, Manson offered to pay her a settlement to end his own case.
She refused to take a cent for herself. She demanded only the $300,000 she had spent on legal fees, and rejected his gag order that would have banned her from speaking about him again.
"You're not taking one more thing from me, and you'll never have my voice."
He paid her legal bill and walked away.
People still ask what she expected dating Marilyn Manson at 18. Why does nobody ask what a 37-year-old man expected when the cameras were rolling?