Trent Reznor made a new statement on his former girlfriend and associate, Marilyn Manson. The statement shared by Pitchfork comes days after Manson’s former partner Evan Rachel Wood alleged the musician groomed and abused her during their relationship.
Reznor’s testimony deals with an anecdote about Reznor that Manson included in his 1998 autobiography, The Long Hard Road Out of Hell. In the story, which has recently surfaced, Manson tells of a terrifying scene in which he and Reznor allegedly physically and sexually assaulted a drunk woman in the 1990s.
Trent Reznor’s statement reads:
I have spoken over the years about my dislike of Manson as a person and broke up with him nearly 25 years ago. As I said at the time, the passage from Manson’s memoir is a complete invention. I was angry and offended when it came out and I have remained today.
Screenshots of passages from The Long Hard Road Out of Hell were shared on Twitter after Wood and several other women made allegations that Manson had molested them. The book – co-authored with Neil Strauss – features stories about Reznor, who Manson signed for his Nothing Records imprint and who produced his band’s 1994 debut album, Portrait of a American Family.
The passage in question was allegedly part of an unpublished interview with the now-defunct Empyrean Magazine that was originally scheduled to appear in the magazine in 1995 but was never printed due to “substantive objections from Empyrean’s editor, Centaur Enterprises, who believed the magazine had unethical Interview procedure followed to extract information from Mr. Manson, ”says Manson and Strauss’ book.
When asked by the Empyrean interviewer how he ultimately worked with Reznor, Manson related the above story. According to the book, this took place the night before Reznor told Manson that he wanted to sign him with Nothing Records.
Reznor, who also worked on the Antichrist Superstar in 1996, told Mjo to Mjo in 2009: “He is a vicious guy and will kick anyone in the face to succeed and to transcend every line of decency. When he sees him now, drugs and alcohol rule his life and he has become a stupid clown. “
Manson claimed in 2017 that he and Reznor had reconciled. “He’s the one who actually emailed me. We had some kind of repair after a long time [Manson collaborator and producer] Oddly, Tyler Bates, ”Manson said to Zane Lowe. “He goes and in the email he said something like, ‘It really pisses me off that music is no longer dangerous and it reminds me of how great you were and me and the time, the era.'”
Evan Rachel Wood previously testified before Congress to support the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights about her experience, despite publicly naming Manson just last week. In the wake of her allegations, Manson’s record label, tour agency and television programs cut ties with the musician. Since then, he has denied the allegations in a statement that partly read: “My intimate relationships with like-minded partners have always been entirely consensual.”
