Marilyn Manson will have to repay $326,956 to Evan Rachel Wood over dismissed lawsuits.
Marilyn Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, was ordered to pay Evan Rachel Wood the sum of $326,956 to cover the lawyer’s fees that the actress Westworld had to file to defend herself against claims for defamation and emotional distress that had been removed from the lawsuit he filed against her and which is still pending.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Teresa A. Beaudet ordered the hefty payout during a hearing Monday. Last May, the same judge dismissed Warner’s claims on the grounds that Ms. Wood was protected by the First Amendment.
Judge Beaudet reduced by a little more than $60,000 the reimbursement of nearly $388,000 that Ms. Wood had requested to pay her lawyer’s bill. The judge said she agreed with Warner’s lawyers that some of the descriptions of the hours billed were too ” waves “.
Marilyn Manson filed the lawsuit in March 2022. He claims Ms. Wood and her friend Illma Gore conspired to pass him off “ for a rapist and an attacker » in the eyes of the public. He declared that these “ malicious lies » had « derailed » his musical, television and cinematographic career.
Although the judge largely gutted Warner’s lawsuit in her May ruling, Wood and Gore are still being prosecuted. A trial is scheduled for May 1.
“ For years, plaintiff Brian Warner raped and tortured defendant Evan Rachel Wood and threatened her with retaliation if she told anyone. Warner has now made good on his threats by filing this lawsuit “, Ms. Wood and her lawyers wrote in their motion that successfully dismissed the defamation and emotional distress claims last year.
Brian Warner, 55, has denied Ms Wood’s allegations, along with those of more than a dozen women. Last September, he reached a private settlement with an unknown plaintiff who claimed he brutally raped her in 2011. The accuser claimed Warner deprived her of food and sleep during their abusive relationship and that he had threatened her. The singer previously struck a separate deal with the star Game Of ThronesEsmĂ© Bianco, in January 2023.
Ashley Walters, the former assistant who claims Warner sexually assaulted her, won an appeal in December that revived her lawsuit against the rocker.
Former accuser Ashley Morgan Smithline, meanwhile, has formally recanted her allegations against Marilyn Manson. Last year, another unknown woman sued Warner for sexual assault.
