A former personal assistant to Marilyn Manson has filed a lawsuit against the goth singer, alleging sexual exploitation and psychological abuse.
Ashley Walters is the latest woman to accuse Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, of abuse.
A former girlfriend, actor Evan Rachel Wood, has said Manson groomed her as a teenager and "horrifically abused me for years." Actor Esmé Bianco filed a lawsuit in April alleging sexual assault.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Walters alleges that she was groomed and abused by Manson.
The suit alleges sexual harassment and sexual assault among other claims, including allegations that the singer threatened her and threw dishes at her and that he once broke down a door after she refused to open it.
“Brian groomed me until I trusted him. I think when you've endured repeated abuse and harassment, especially from someone you trusted, it can take longer to process and understand what truly happened," Walters said in a statement.
"It has taken me years to fully grasp the impact this environment had on me and the recent exposure of his behavior toward other women to identify these moments for what they were," she said.
Manson has not been charged with any crime. A representative for Manson on Wednesday denied any accusations of assault.
In February the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it had launched a domestic violence investigation about alleged incidents when the singer lived in West Hollywood. That announcement came after accusations made by Wood.
Manson in February responded to Wood on Instagram. "My art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality," he wrote.
Walters' suit also says Manson offered her to friends and associates, detailing incidents in which he pushed her into the lap of an actor and said he could "have her"; and forced her to sit on the lap of another musician and give him a kiss. In a similar incident, Walters suit says, a director groped her.
It describes her being forced to stay awake for 48 hours straight and stand for 12 hours at a time on a chair taking pictures of Manson. During two trips, luggage that had drugs in it were placed in her name, the suit says.
The musician first reached out to Walters on social media and complimented her photography in March 2010 before inviting her to his West Hollywood home, the suit states.
Walters became Manson's personal assistant in August 2010. She was fired July of 2011, re-hired, and then fired for a second and final time in October of that year, according to the suit.
The suit also alleges that the first time Walters was at Manson's home and studio, he pinned her arms to a bed, tried to kiss her and then bit her ear and placed her hand on his underwear. Another time, he allegedly threw her against a wall and kissed her when she tried to leave, the suit says.
It described Walters as at times being traumatized by the behavior and also pleased that a music star of his stature praised her photo work. It says Manson manipulated her to the point where she ignored warning signs.
Manson was effectively dropped from record label Loma Vista after Wood publicly accused him of abuse. The label said it would cease promoting his latest album and ruled out future projects with Manson.
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