A judge has ordered Manson to pay Wood's legal tab for her defense against his defamation suit against her. The trial is set to take place in May.
ADVERTISEMENTShock rocker Marilyn Manson has been ordered to pay the legal fees of his former partner, actress Evan Rachel Wood, after a defamation lawsuit against Wood was dismissed.
Manson’s lawsuit claimed that Wood “recruited, coordinated, and pressured” women to make false statements about the musician.
Last May, we reported that Manson’s defamation claims had been thrown out by a Los Angeles judge.
Now, Manson – whose real name is Brian Warner – has been ordered to pay the Westworld star $300,000 (€277,000).
According to a report by Rolling Stone, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Teresa A. Beaudet ordered the reimbursement during a court hearing on 29 January. The musician is expected to cover the legal fees that Wood has accumulated by defending against the defamation and emotional distress claims.
The claims have now been struck from the still-pending lawsuit.
At the heart of Manson’s suit against Wood is Phoenix Rising, the two-part documentary on the singer and his supposed cycles of abuse, which premiered at the virtual 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Manson’s suit came a year after Wood, 35, took to social media in 2021 to publicly name her ex-fiancée for a pattern of abuse and “grooming” her during their 2007 to 2010 relationship. In 2017, Wood told a Congressional committee that she had been raped and repeatedly abused but did not actually give a name of who the alleged predator was.
Manson was dropped by his record label and CAA representation after Wood named Manson.
The singer said the claims were “horrible distortions of reality”, and has repeatedly denied Wood’s allegations, as well as all other separate claims of abuse from more than 12 women.
A trial is set for 1 May.
