The Untold Truth Of Marilyn Manson

Born Brian Hugh Warner, Marilyn Manson rode his third album, "Anti-Christ Superstar," to the top of the charts, becoming one of the most controversial rock stars on the planet at the same time. Possibly due to his, to put it lightly, controversial nature, there have been many urban myths about Manson, but we've dissected all this fiction, and uncovered the true untold story of Marilyn Manson.

Starting in 2021, a series of eerily similar stories have come out about Manson. While he had previously had a reputation as a provocative shock rocker whose fans believed that he had a more sensitive and intellectual side, these stories began to reveal a much darker Manson, one who wasn't just edgy and controversial to groups of concerned parents like "Mothers Against Manson ." Although Manson has aggressively denied all allegations, his fans have had to confront the possibility that their idol has physically, sexually, and mentally abused more than a dozen women.

The following article includes allegations and descriptions of addiction, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and self-harm.

In 1994, Marilyn Manson and his band were in a Miami recording studio with Trent Reznor, recording some B-sides for "Lunchbox," a single from Manson's debut album. During the session, Manson invited a groupie to the studio, who happened to be a deaf woman. When she came to the studio, Manson ordered her to remove her clothes — when she did, Manson and others put raw meat, such as bacon and ham, all over her body, took pictures, and recorded some video. Then, Manson directed the groupie to perform sexual acts with two of his bandmates, Twiggy Ramirez and Madonna Wayne Gacy, at the same time.

While that was bizarre enough, the sexual escapade didn't end there. While the groupie was showering, both Ramirez and Manson urinated on her, and then threw raw salmon on her. Manson then wrote about it in his autobiography, "Long Hard Road Out of Hell."

On July 30, 2001, Marilyn Manson was playing a show at the DTE Energy Theater, located in a suburb of Detroit. Manson was performing while only wearing a thong and pantyhose — at one point in the show, Manson focused his attention on a security guard named Joshua Keasler. Manson apparently spit on Keasler's head, then wrapped his legs around his head, rubbing his genitals against the back of Keasler's head and neck.

A few weeks later, Manson learned Keasler's sense of humor drew the line at actual criminal behavior, as the rock star was arrested for felony fourth-degree criminal sexual assault. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge and paid a $4,000 fine. He also settled with the security guard for an undisclosed amount, and Keasler appeared ready to draw a line under the incident, stating (via the East Valley Tribune), "I can now go on with my life and try to close this unhappy chapter."

Growing up, Marilyn Manson said that his mother hovered over him a bit. Originally, he thought it was just because he was sick and in the hospital a lot. As a child, he said that he thought he had contracted pneumonia six times, and that he had allergies to things like eggs and fabric softener. It was only years later that Manson found out that he was never really sick, and his mother suffered from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. This is a form of mental illness where a caregiver — in this case Manson's mother — makes up or causes an illness or injury for someone in their care.

Manson has always been fairly quiet on the subject. He's only talked about it twice in public, both times fairly briefly. He doesn't even mention it in his autobiography. Manson says that his mom, who passed away in May 2014 after a long battle with dementia, had a history of mental illness, and he doesn't know how far back the Munchausen by Proxy went.

When Marilyn Manson broke into the mainstream, there were more frightening metal bands out there (like Cannibal Corpses or Mayhem), yet Manson still managed to raise the creepiness bar. This has prompted several interviewers to ask what led him down this dark path, and Manson claims that his private Christian high school education played a big part, but another big influence was his grandfather, Jack Warner.

His grandfather apparently had a private den where he kept a strange collection of old condoms, weird sexual aides, and an odd and disturbing collection of pornography, which included recordings of bestiality. Manson found this den when he was 12, and began to explore it. By 13, he would supposedly sneak down to the basement where he would watch his grandfather — who had a tracheotomy and wore lingerie — masturbate to these videos. His grandfather used the sound of model trains to cover up the sounds. Manson wasn't so much disgusted as he was simply fascinated. He said that he looked at his grandfather then as if he were a monster, which is how he said he feels the world looks at him today.

Evan Rachel Wood has led the charge against Marilyn Manson, even releasing a two-part documentary on HBO about the horrific abuses he subjected her to over the course of their three-year relationship. When they first met, she was only 18, while Manson was 37, and he was still married to performer Dita Von Teese. While one might expect the public to react with concern for Wood, in an interview with Rolling Stone, she stated that people were generally hostile towards her about the relationship, despite her young age, saying, "Most teenagers are searching for identity, and I was thrown into a situation where I was supposed to have that already figured out. Then you're demonized for figuring it out and getting messy. People would call me a whore when I walked down the street, and you can't not be hurt by that."

Many fans of Manson's music know Wood from her appearance in the music video for his song "Heart Shaped Glasses," but fewer know that the song was inspired by an actual pair of glasses that the teenage Wood wore when meeting with Manson. While many might find their age gap concerning, Manson seemed to revel in it. The heart-shaped glasses that Wood wears in the video are a specific reference to the Stanley Kubrick film "Lolita," in which a sexual predator stalks a child.

One of the most bizarre accusations against Marilyn Manson is that he has a glass cell in his bedroom for keeping his victims captive. While it sounds like a plot point in a thriller, and reminded some fans of the cage owned by the stalker protagonist of "You," by Manson's own admission, the cell is real.

It is described as a locking, soundproof glass box resembling a steam room, and supposedly located in a bedroom. In interviews, Manson referred to it as the "Bad Girls' Room" and stated that he would lock people inside. An expose from Rolling Stone determined that the small soundproof box was already there when Manson moved in. The former tenant had built it with the intention of using it to make music. According to Manson's former partners, Manson used it as a place he could keep them prisoner, often as punishment for perceived slights against him.

For a long time, one of Marilyn Manson's most shocking on-stage gimmicks has been to cut himself while performing. Sometimes, this appears to be real, while in some performances it is simulated (including one time in 2013 when he appeared to mimic a related non-fatal incident involving Janet Jackson when she was a teenager). According to a 2009 interview Manson did with Spin, not all of his self harm was for the benefit of his audience. Shortly after his breakup with Evan Rachel Wood, Manson admitted to calling her over and over again on Christmas, saying, "Every time I called her that day — I called 158 times — I took a razorblade and I cut myself on my face or on my hands ... I wanted to show her the pain she put me through."

While this statement was not widely talked about at the time, in light of the horrific behaviors Wood later reported in her relationship with Manson, many began viewing this behavior as a part of the abuse. Tellingly, in the same interview, Manson also admitted: "I have fantasies every day about smashing [Wood's] skull in with a sledgehammer."

In 2022, Marilyn Manson attempted to sue Evan Rachel Wood and her partner, artist Illma Gore, claiming that they had impersonated FBI agents, hacked his personal computer, and called a SWAT team to his house to harass him, as well as having encouraged other women from his past to tell the media that he was physically and sexually abusive. Manson claimed that this was a coordinated attack against him, designed to ruin his career. While parts of the case are still pending, so far, the law has not agreed with Manson.

In January and February of 2024, a judge determined that these accusations were baseless and that neither Wood nor Gore had pressured anyone to lie about Manson. The judge also ruled that by California's anti-SLAPP statute, which aims to prevent people from being silenced by the risk of having to pay massive legal fees to defend themselves, Manson was responsible for paying Wood and Gore's legal fees. Between both defendants' lawyers, he owes about $374,000.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, may be the victim of domestic abuse or sexual assault, or needs help with mental health, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

• The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

• The Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.