Model Ashley Smithline shares detailed account of alleged abuse during relationship with Marilyn Manson

By Tatiana Tenreyro  |  May 5, 2021 | 2:33pm
Music Features Ashley
Model Ashley Smithline shares detailed account of alleged abuse during relationship with Marilyn Manson
Ashley Morgan Smithline in an interview with People Screenshot: People

In 2019, Evan Rachel Wood testified on behalf of the Phoenix Act—a bill that extends the time domestic abuse survivors have to press charges against their abusers—before the State Senate, giving a detailed account of the abuse she experienced at the hands of a former partner. At the time, she didn’t name him, but details of the relationship matched up with her relationship with Brian Warner a.k.a. Marilyn Manson. At the beginning of this year, Wood named Warner as her abuser outright, and four other women came forward on social media sharing they had similar abusive experiences at the hands of the musician. These women were: Ashley Walters, Sarah McNeilly, Ashley Morgan Smithline, and a woman named Gabriella who did not share her last name. Today, Smithline has shared a detailed account of the alleged abused she experienced during her relationship with Warner.

In an interview with People, the model said that over the course of two years, Warner sexually assaulted her multiple times. She says Warner “bit her, whipped her, cut her with a swastika-emblazoned knife and shoved his fist in her mouth during sex.” People also reports that Smithline was forced to do a blood pact with Warner and was locked into a room the musician referred to as “the bad girls room”—a glass, soundproof room—“whenever she pissed him off.” Smithline recalls, “If I had to pee while he was replaying one of his songs I’d heard 30,000 times, I’d have to be locked in the box. I was malnourished and cold.”

According to People, Smithline and Warner met in summer 2010, when Warner reached out and asked if she was interested in an acting role for a film. When the two connected, they began chatting frequently. Eventually, the model flew to L.A. to meet Warner, and moved into his West Hollywood apartment days later. Smithline recalls to People the first time she was abused. She says he “whipped her bare back as she lay face down and naked on his bed. With the windows blacked out, [he] would lie to her about the time of day and force her to continue working into the early hours of the morning.” She also explains that the abuse quickly escalated and his tactics soon included rape. She alleges that the first time he raped her, she woke up in the morning screaming once she realized her arms were tied, and that Warner had been penetrating her while she slept. She also says that on another occasion while raping her, Warner also broke her nose as she attempted to free herself. Smithline says he threatened her with other kinds of physical violence, and even threw a knife from across the room, narrowly missing her face.

Smithline’s story comes just days after Game Of Thrones actor Esme Bianco sued Warner for rape and sexual battery. Bianco also sued Warner’s former manager, Tony Ciulla, and his management company for violating human trafficking laws.

 
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