There was a time when Marilyn Manson seduced certain intellectual circles. Illustrious minds with twisted tastes, such as movie-makers David Lynch and Tim Burton, actor Shia LaBeouf, documentary maker and rabble-rouser Michael Moore or industrial rock guru and leader of the band Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor. All of them admired the dark personality of Brian Hugh Warner, the Ohio-born Manson’s real name. Lynch once said that he though the musician was a “sensational artist.” Perhaps he was, with albums like the platinum-selling Antichrist Superstar (1997) and songs including The Beautiful People.
But today, Manson’s aura has faded: to his artistic decadence have been added allegations of sexual and psychological abuse by several women, among them former partners including the actors Evan Rachel Wood and Esmé Bianco and the model Ashley Morgan Smithline.
Last month, Rolling Stone published an in-depth investigation centering on the allegations Titled Marilyn Manson: The Monster Hiding in Plain Sight, which contains some terrifying passages. EL PAÍS got in touch with one of the reporters, Kory Grow, who politely declined to comment, “preferring to let the reporting in the article speak for itself.” In the article, several women lay out the alleged abuses they were subjected to. Many of these took place in a tiny, soundproofed room at Manson’s former West Hollywood apartment, which they state the singer referred to as the “Bad Girls’ Room.” Lawsuits have…
