Singer Marilyn Manson has hit back at Evan Rachel Wood’s claims he threatened her young son, causing the actress to hand over primary custody of the child to her ex-Jamie Bell due to safety fears.
According to legal documents obtained by The Blast, the actress, 35, has agreed for son Jack, 9, to ‘primarily’ live with Bell, 36, in Los Angeles – due to fears she could be putting the child in danger by residing with him – after Manson made the alleged threats.
Sources also told the publication Wood is ‘extremely afraid of putting her son in danger’ – 17 months after she claimed in a court declaration Manson, 54, told her he would ‘f**k’ her then eight-year-old son – Manson denied the claim.
Speaking to DailyMail, a source close to Manson – real name Brian Warner – denied Wood’s claims, berated Wood for ‘making unproven claims publicly’ and said the singer’s own safety had been threatened after Wood’s girlfriend Illma Gore allegedly used a forged FBI letter to recruit other women into accusing Manson of abuse. The part of the lawsuit dealing with the letter was later thrown out.
Manson has faced numerous claims of sexual abuse and human trafficking. More than a dozen women, including Wood, accuse him of abuse – accusations Manson has denied.
The source said: ‘Brian Warner has not had any contact nor communications of any kind with Evan Rachel Wood in nearly a decade.”
‘At no time has Brian Warner ever threatened Ms. Wood or her family.”
‘Wood has not provided a shred of evidence of Warner making any threats against her or her family.”
‘Wood continues to make unproven claims publicly and to the court based on a fraudulent FBI letter that was created and written by her and her accomplice, Illma Gore, during their coordinated attack on Warner.”
‘In his own declaration to the court in his custody battle, Mr. Bell has said that Evan’s story defies credibility.’”
‘The only people whose safety has been threatened are Warner and his wife [Lindsay Usich], who were swatted at their home based on a duplicitous phone call made to the FBI by Illma Gore, who claimed to be a friend of the couple.’
In November 2022 Manson sued Wood and Gore for defamation over what he called the ‘malicious’ and ‘false’ sexual abuse allegations they have made against him
Wood has said that Manson ‘brainwashed and manipulated her into submission’ and that he ‘started grooming me when I was a teenager’
Manson’s attorney said in late September in court that Gore had used an allegedly forged FBI letter to recruit other women into accusing his client
Gore has denied Manson’s claims and said she was reaching out to his exes and women who faced domestic violence for the HBO documentary Phoenix Rising
In his lawsuit, Manson had claimed that in their alleged FBI letter forgery, they impersonated an FBI agent to distribute the letter to ‘create the false appearance’ that Manson’s alleged victims and their families were in danger.
He also accused them of recruiting, coordinating and pressuring women into making false accusations of abuse against Manson. And he alleges that Gore hacked into his computer, phone and email account, obtaining his passwords and social security number.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa A. Beaudet dismissed the part of the suit dealing with the disputed FBI letter, which Wood denies forging.
Beaudet also tossed out a section that alleges Wood and Gore used a checklist found on an iPad for other women to use to make abuse claims about Manson.
The judge did not rule on the merits of the FBI letter, but found that the evidence that the defendants used it to recruit other women and harm Manson was hypothetical and thin.
Evidence was also lacking that Wood and Gore created the checklist, Beaudet found. She said the probability of Manson prevailing on either part was low.
Beaudet’s ruling relied on California law meant to protect the free speech of defendants from being squelched by lawsuits.
Wood’s attorney Michael Kump said in a statement: ‘We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling, which affirms and protects Evan’s exercise of her fundamental First Amendment rights. As the Court correctly found, Plaintiff failed to show that his claims against her have even minimal merit.”
Manson’s attorney Howard King said he planned an immediate appeal: ‘The ruling is disappointing but not unexpected.
‘The Court telegraphed this outcome when it refused to consider the bombshell sworn declaration of former plaintiff Ashley Smithline, which detailed how women were systematically pressured by Evan Rachel Wood and Illma Gore to make false claims about Brian Warner.’
Wood currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, and has previously been fighting to keep her son out of LA.
In the filing, Wood and Bell have agreed their son will ‘primarily live with (him) in Los Angeles, (Wood) shall have custody of Jack one (1) extended weekend per month from Friday, after school or 10:00 a.m.’
Wood will also have custody of Jack for holidays such as Spring Break.
In July 2022, Bell claimed the pair had shared ‘equal custody of Jack for seven years before Wood began keeping Jack from him’ – a claim she denied.
Wood has allegedly spoken of her fears of retaliation from the singer, saying in custody court: ‘I am a key witness in a pending criminal investigation. In connection with the investigation, I allege that I was the victim of torture, rape, and pedophilic grooming by an intentionally known public figure.
‘I am extremely afraid of the alleged offender. I have suffered a severe, traumatic physical and emotional injury at his hands, and I am afraid that he will seek retribution against me for testifying by harming me, our son, and members of our family.’
It was also claimed that Wood alleges she was told ‘directly by investigators’ that her family’s safety was at risk.
Bell is said to have filed documents with the court claiming Wood was ‘keeping their son from him’, that it ‘shouldn’t matter what was going on with Manson’, and that the pair should share custody of their son in LA.
He wrote: ‘Whatever fears Evan may have regarding third parties should have nothing to do with me or custody of our son. I do not even want to think of the short- and long-term psychological harm Evan might be inflicting upon Jack with this kind of talk and my prolonged separation from him.’
Wood responded, denying she had kept Jack from Bell and expressed her ‘real and deep concerns’ regarding her and Jack’s safety should the pair reside in LA.
The new custody arrangement was signed and filed with the LA County Courts.
