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Marilyn Manson denies Evan Rachel Wood's allegation that he 'essentially raped' her in music video

Marilyn Manson denies Evan Rachel Wood's allegation that he 'essentially raped' her in music video

Marilyn Manson's attorney is denying Evan Rachel Wood's allegation that the singer "essentially raped [her] on camera" during a 2007 music video shoot, and in turn accusing the actress of concocting "false claims."

In a statement provided to EW on Tuesday, attorney Howard King said, "Of all the false claims that Evan Rachel Wood has made about Brian Warner, her imaginative retelling of the making of the 'Heart-Shaped Glasses' music video 15 years ago is the most brazen and easiest to disprove, because there were multiple witnesses." (Brian Warner is Manson's legal name.)

King continued: "Evan was not only fully coherent and engaged during the three-day shoot but also heavily involved in weeks of pre-production planning and days of post-production editing of the final cut. The simulated sex scene took several hours to shoot with multiple takes using different angles and several long breaks in between camera setups. Brian did not have sex with Evan on that set, and she knows that is the truth."

Evan Rachel Wood, Marilyn Manson
Evan Rachel Wood, Marilyn Manson

Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson

Representatives for Wood did not immediately respond to request for comment.

In the documentary Phoenix Rising – Part I: Don't Fall, which premiered Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival and will air later this year on HBO, Wood says that during the filming of the "Heart-Shaped Glasses" music video she was "coerced into a commercial sex act under false pretenses" by Manson, who was her boyfriend at the time.

"It's nothing like I thought it was going to be," the Westworld actress, 34, recalls in the film. "We're doing things that were not what was pitched to me. We had discussed a simulated sex scene, but once the cameras were rolling, he started penetrating me for real." The experience, she says, was "traumatizing."

In 2018, Wood spoke before a House Judiciary Committee in support of the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights. At the time she described "toxic mental, physical, and sexual abuse" she suffered at the hands of an unnamed ex. She named Manson, 53, as her alleged abuser last February, at a time when multiple women had come forward with similar abuse allegations.

Manson's counsel previously issued a statement saying he "vehemently denies any and all claims of sexual assault or abuse of anyone."

After the allegations surfaced, Manson was dropped by his record label and from various TV appearances, including American Gods and Creepshow.

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