Evan Rachel Wood testified about her sexual assault in Congress in 2018. Last year, she named her alleged abuser. Now, she has even more to share – and in her own words.
In a new documentary “Phoenix Rising – Part I: Don’t Fall,” which premiered Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival (and will arrive on HBO later this year), the actress and activist describes her toxic and turbulent relationship with ex-fiancé Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson) and how she’s taking back the narrative through activism.
Wood withheld Manson’s name for years after first discussing abuse she faced, but named Manson in an Instagram post in February 2021, who denied the claims. Multiple women have since accused Manson of physical and sexual abuse and he has been hit with several lawsuits by accusers.
“It’s always really hard for me to look at photos of myself from before” meeting Manson, Wood, 34, says at the start of the Amy Berg-directed documentary, glancing at old pictures on her computer and thinking about her youthful innocence. The pair were together on and off for 4.5 years starting in mid-2006 when she was 18. He was 37.
Filmmakers contacted Manson but he did not respond to specific allegations. Instead, the film includes a statement from Manson’s lawyers, saying the musician “vehemently denies any and all claims of sexual assault or abuse of anyone. These lurid claims against my client have three things in common – they are all false, alleged to have taken place more than a decade ago and part of a coordinated attack by former partners and associates of Mr. Warner who have weaponized the otherwise mundane details of his personal life and their consensual relationships into fabricated horror stories.”
The documentary tells Wood’s side of the story – and that of other survivors.
“I went to (Berg) very desperate to be heard and for this story to be told and for people to finally pay attention to what we’ve been saying and how serious it is,” Wood said in a Q&A following the film’s premiere. “My story is not unique.”
Wood grew up in a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, and says she was raised with the mentality to persevere even when she felt uncomfortable. This played out in the 2003 film “Thirteen.” She had to make out with a 23-year-old man on camera when she was only 14 in front of a room full of people.
“I remember not wanting to do it, but I knew that the character needed to and so it didn’t matter what Evan wanted,” she says in the film. “It just had to be done.” (USAToday)