Marilyn Manson accuser claims Evan Rachel Wood 'manipulated' her into false allegation
msn.comA woman who accused Marilyn Manson of sexual abuse has recanted her allegation, claiming she was manipulated into lying by his ex Evan Rachel Wood.
Ashley Morgan Smithline was one of several women who had accused Manson - whose real name is Brian Warner - of sexual abuse over the past two years.
However, she has now recanted her allegation. In a declaration, she alleged that she was "manipulated by Ms Wood" until she agreed to "spread publicly false accusations of abuse", referencing Manson's ex-fiancée. "I succumbed to pressure from Evan Rachel Wood and her associates to make accusations of rape and assault against Mr Warner that were not true," Smithline alleged in a declaration obtained by Page Six on Thursday. "Eventually, I started to believe that what I was repeatedly told happened to Ms Wood and (others) also happened to me. "Manson's attorney Howard King told the outlet that Smithline contacted the musician to apologise last week. "For a moment in time, having been questioned so many times by Evan Rachel Wood about this 'repressed memory' and being told, 'You're not remembering what happened,' she believed it for a minute," King stated.
In a statement to Billboard, a spokesperson for Wood strongly denied Smithline's new accusations. "Evan never pressured or manipulated Ashley.
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