Los Angeles brand Enfants Riches Déprimés is currently showcasing their Spring 2024 collection at Maxfield LA, and the event was attended by Marilyn Manson and his wife Lindsay on April 17th. On March 16th, Manson posted photos on his social media wearing the Enfants Riches Déprimés brand, which is French for "Depressed Rich Kids". Enfants Riches Déprimés is a Los Angeles and Paris based luxury fashion brand founded in 2012 by the conceptual artist Henri Alexander Levy, who has created a French punk streetwear line based on the movements of the late 1970s and Japanese Avant-garde movements of the 1980s. One of the core precepts of the brand is high price points, with T-shirts ranging on average from $500 to $1,000, and haute couture jackets priced as high as $95,000. ERD consistently utilizes the business model of artificial scarcity. In this regard, all styles are sold on an extremely exclusive basis, and thus in relatively small quantities. In a 2016 interview with Complex
An Analysis and Investigation of Esme Bianco's 2011 Birthday Photo That She Claims Hid Signs of Abuse
The last of the four photos to be posted on March 11, 2019 between Evan Rachel Wood and Esme Bianco, was a photo taken by Ashley Walters showing Esme with a big smile on her face. Looking at this photo, you would think nothing sinister about it. But Esme wants you to know that there is indeed something sinister about it, which is revealed in her interpretation of this photo in her March 11, 2019 post on Twitter and Instagram. She wrote:
"This photo was taken on my birthday many years ago. The night before I had been locked in the bedroom alone and had not slept. I was surviving on very little food and was physically and mentally exhausted - I often wasn’t allowed to sleep. In this photo my boyfriend is giving me my birthday present. Despite the plastered on smile I can see the emptiness and fear in my eyes. We went for dinner later and he spent the whole evening berating me because he didn’t want to go out. I was not ok then and #IAmNotOk now."
"This photo was taken on my birthday many years ago. The night before I had been locked in the bedroom alone and had not slept. I was surviving on very little food and was physically and mentally exhausted - I often wasn’t allowed to sleep. In this photo my boyfriend is giving me my birthday present. Despite the plastered on smile I can see the emptiness and fear in my eyes. We went for dinner later and he spent the whole evening berating me because he didn’t want to go out. I was not ok then and #IAmNotOk now."
Like Evan, Esme at this time had not named her abuser, which means she could say anything she wanted about him and about this supposed photographic evidence. The abuser, as they implied for years before naming him, was an evil monster, and that is all we needed to know, while they were innocent victims still suffering from the abuse years later, but surviving.
To put things in context, the first encounter between Manson and Bianco was in February 2009 over the course of about four days in Los Angeles, when Esme was cast in his music video for "I Want To Kill You Like They Do in The Movies". There was no sexual relationship at this time.
The second encounter between Manson and Bianco was in May 2009 over the course of three or four days in London when Manson was promoting his album and upcoming European tour. According to Esme, this is when they first had sex and she was covered in bruises from his bites.
The next confirmed encounter between Manson and Bianco was two years later in April-June 2011, though according to Esme they had seen each other whenever she had traveled to Los Angeles in between this time over the course of the previous two years. Meanwhile, according to her interview with The Cut (Feb. 10, 2021), Bianco was married at this time in London, but was completely in love with Manson, and her being apart from Manson caused her daily panic attacks, to the point that her eyelashes were falling off. According to Esme, Manson asked Bianco to move in with him to work on his film Phantasmagoria, and promised to help her get a visa while she figured out her acting career. Esme accepted, and within a week she left her husband and moved to Los Angeles to be with Manson, in April of 2011.
She says there was a very brief honeymoon period during which Manson showered her with attention, but he soon began to control every aspect of her life - what she could wear, her sleep schedule, and when she could come and go from the apartment. Manson, according to Esme, gave her cuts and bruises during this time, which Esme admits she consented to, or at least never complained about, and even on one occasion sent Manson a text message that read: "Everytime I move they hurt so good thinking of you." They lived with each other a little under two months, until Esme says she was able to sneak away from Manson in early June and broke up with him via email.
To put things in context, the first encounter between Manson and Bianco was in February 2009 over the course of about four days in Los Angeles, when Esme was cast in his music video for "I Want To Kill You Like They Do in The Movies". There was no sexual relationship at this time.
The second encounter between Manson and Bianco was in May 2009 over the course of three or four days in London when Manson was promoting his album and upcoming European tour. According to Esme, this is when they first had sex and she was covered in bruises from his bites.
The next confirmed encounter between Manson and Bianco was two years later in April-June 2011, though according to Esme they had seen each other whenever she had traveled to Los Angeles in between this time over the course of the previous two years. Meanwhile, according to her interview with The Cut (Feb. 10, 2021), Bianco was married at this time in London, but was completely in love with Manson, and her being apart from Manson caused her daily panic attacks, to the point that her eyelashes were falling off. According to Esme, Manson asked Bianco to move in with him to work on his film Phantasmagoria, and promised to help her get a visa while she figured out her acting career. Esme accepted, and within a week she left her husband and moved to Los Angeles to be with Manson, in April of 2011.
She says there was a very brief honeymoon period during which Manson showered her with attention, but he soon began to control every aspect of her life - what she could wear, her sleep schedule, and when she could come and go from the apartment. Manson, according to Esme, gave her cuts and bruises during this time, which Esme admits she consented to, or at least never complained about, and even on one occasion sent Manson a text message that read: "Everytime I move they hurt so good thinking of you." They lived with each other a little under two months, until Esme says she was able to sneak away from Manson in early June and broke up with him via email.
This being said, the photo we are analyzing and investigating here was taken by Manson's then assistant and current accuser Ashley Walters on May 25, 2011, which was Esme's 29th birthday. It supposedly depicts the moment Manson gave her a birthday gift. Like the other three photos posted that March 11, 2019, they are edited to show only what the accusers want us to see and focus on without the wider context. Fortunately we do have the full photo in this case to put some context to this social media image, which we can see is a Polaroid picture. Manson is holding what looks like a piece of paper with a small photo of what looks like himself on it, though it is difficult to tell. I find it curious that she does not say what the gift is; probably because she does not want the gift to be perceived as the source of her smile. Yet Ashley felt at the time it was a good enough moment to capture on film, but in 2019 monsters deserve no praise.
Esme's 2019 commentary on this photo does not tell us anything about how she felt or what she thought that day on May 25, 2011. The entire perspective Esme wants us to believe is how she chooses to interpret that moment eight years later in 2019, in light of the Me Too Movement and after she "realized" she was abused by Manson a year or so earlier when she was supposedly diagnosed with PTSD. She adds the comment: "The night before I had been locked in the bedroom alone and had not slept." Even if we assume this is true, this does not say anything about Manson abusing her, but she wants us to think it is about Manson abusing her by leaving out any details and allowing our minds to form that narrative; this is a powerful and impactful form of manipulation story-telling. In her court complaint she considered it abusive that Manson worked at night and slept during the day and this interfered in how she had to live her daily life. For all we know, Manson may have locked her up in the bedroom on the night before her birthday so she could get a nice full sleep alone in the bed by herself, but since she was used to sleeping during the day after having adjusted to Manson's schedule, now she was unable to sleep. She contradicts herself in the next sentence when she says: "I was surviving on very little food and was physically and mentally exhausted - I often wasn’t allowed to sleep." So within two sentences she is complaining for being left alone to sleep in the bedroom but unable to, then she is complaining that she wasn't allowed to sleep. As for eating, that is an individual choice. No one ever complains that Manson actually kept food away from anyone, even if they tried to eat something or order take-out. We do however read in her complaint that she did cocaine during this time, which probably explains why she didn't eat or sleep enough. However, in this May 25th 2011 photo Esme looks healthy to me.
In the caption to the photo, Esme continues to berate Manson for berating her on her birthday when they went out for dinner, because apparently Manson didn't want to go out that night. So what did he say? Did he do this in front of people? Why didn't Manson want to go out? Another accusation without context.
And lest you think that big smile on her face was an expression of happiness, Esme wants you to understand that it was her putting on a fake "plastered" smile, because in 2019 she sees "the emptiness and fear in my eyes" when looking at this photo, even though she says it took her seven years to realize this.
The message we get from this tweet is clear: Esme hates Manson. Worse than that, Esme resents Manson. Resentment pours out of everything Esme says about Manson. It seems like something new, not like something she has been holding on to. When a hateful and resentful person looks back at events and tries to interpret them many years later, because something has recently changed them, you can be assured that the story they are going to tell you will not reflect the original reality, but instead the new reality. As for why she hates and resents him, we will address it another time when we discuss her accusations and motives more deeply, but here I want to concentrate on the photo and the all around message of this tweet.
1. First, this photo is deceiving, like the other photos dropped by Esme and Evan on March 11, 2019. It is edited to exclude Manson and the surrounding setting and to draw up a narrative focusing on her eyes and her smile, which she wants us to see as not expressing something happy, but as something terrifying and empty and dark. Meanwhile, when we see the photo in its entirety, without Esme's "enlightened" radicalized commentary after her diagnosis with PTSD in 2018, what we see is a casual photo that looks anything but sinister. If Esme could just admit that she was happy at the time, or even at the moment, she would have had a bit more credibility in pleading her ignorance of what she claims was really happening to her at the time. Furthermore, in 2013 on Twitter she revealed how her smile made her feel insecure, but there is nothing awkward in this smile from 2011, but seems to express a genuine moment of true happiness. Perhaps Esme's insecurity about her smile comes out when looking back at this photo.
Esme's 2019 commentary on this photo does not tell us anything about how she felt or what she thought that day on May 25, 2011. The entire perspective Esme wants us to believe is how she chooses to interpret that moment eight years later in 2019, in light of the Me Too Movement and after she "realized" she was abused by Manson a year or so earlier when she was supposedly diagnosed with PTSD. She adds the comment: "The night before I had been locked in the bedroom alone and had not slept." Even if we assume this is true, this does not say anything about Manson abusing her, but she wants us to think it is about Manson abusing her by leaving out any details and allowing our minds to form that narrative; this is a powerful and impactful form of manipulation story-telling. In her court complaint she considered it abusive that Manson worked at night and slept during the day and this interfered in how she had to live her daily life. For all we know, Manson may have locked her up in the bedroom on the night before her birthday so she could get a nice full sleep alone in the bed by herself, but since she was used to sleeping during the day after having adjusted to Manson's schedule, now she was unable to sleep. She contradicts herself in the next sentence when she says: "I was surviving on very little food and was physically and mentally exhausted - I often wasn’t allowed to sleep." So within two sentences she is complaining for being left alone to sleep in the bedroom but unable to, then she is complaining that she wasn't allowed to sleep. As for eating, that is an individual choice. No one ever complains that Manson actually kept food away from anyone, even if they tried to eat something or order take-out. We do however read in her complaint that she did cocaine during this time, which probably explains why she didn't eat or sleep enough. However, in this May 25th 2011 photo Esme looks healthy to me.
In the caption to the photo, Esme continues to berate Manson for berating her on her birthday when they went out for dinner, because apparently Manson didn't want to go out that night. So what did he say? Did he do this in front of people? Why didn't Manson want to go out? Another accusation without context.
And lest you think that big smile on her face was an expression of happiness, Esme wants you to understand that it was her putting on a fake "plastered" smile, because in 2019 she sees "the emptiness and fear in my eyes" when looking at this photo, even though she says it took her seven years to realize this.
The message we get from this tweet is clear: Esme hates Manson. Worse than that, Esme resents Manson. Resentment pours out of everything Esme says about Manson. It seems like something new, not like something she has been holding on to. When a hateful and resentful person looks back at events and tries to interpret them many years later, because something has recently changed them, you can be assured that the story they are going to tell you will not reflect the original reality, but instead the new reality. As for why she hates and resents him, we will address it another time when we discuss her accusations and motives more deeply, but here I want to concentrate on the photo and the all around message of this tweet.
1. First, this photo is deceiving, like the other photos dropped by Esme and Evan on March 11, 2019. It is edited to exclude Manson and the surrounding setting and to draw up a narrative focusing on her eyes and her smile, which she wants us to see as not expressing something happy, but as something terrifying and empty and dark. Meanwhile, when we see the photo in its entirety, without Esme's "enlightened" radicalized commentary after her diagnosis with PTSD in 2018, what we see is a casual photo that looks anything but sinister. If Esme could just admit that she was happy at the time, or even at the moment, she would have had a bit more credibility in pleading her ignorance of what she claims was really happening to her at the time. Furthermore, in 2013 on Twitter she revealed how her smile made her feel insecure, but there is nothing awkward in this smile from 2011, but seems to express a genuine moment of true happiness. Perhaps Esme's insecurity about her smile comes out when looking back at this photo.
2. Second, Esme's commentary that accompanies this photo is purely about forming a narrative to supplement her case against her unnamed abuser, named nearly two years later as Marilyn Manson, because she knows that this photo can be used against her in a court of law and in a court of public opinion. Esme's case depends on her giving this photo a sinister interpretation, or it could help land her in jail for bearing false witness. Esme knows that the smile in the photo needs to be perceived as a look of terror in order for her complaints to be valid, even though her smile is too expressive and looks too genuine for her to claim she is a victim of abuse at this moment. Esme is clearly using her power as a victim in the Me Too era to take advantage of forming a narrative that will not be questioned - and it wasn't.
3. Third, to add to the second point, it seems Esme also carefully chose this photo because the paparazzi took many photos that night of Manson and Bianco at Katsuya restaurant in West Hollywood, where they celebrated her birthday, and nowhere does she look awkward, scared, bruised, cut, disheveled, but it looks like they are normal holding hands as they get bombarded by the paparazzi (see more photos below this post). Since there are so many photos and witnesses of them together that night, Esme no doubt wants to create the narrative of what she wants people to believe was "really" going on in her mind and her life at the moment, since she was probably seen smiling, laughing, being sociable, etc. Also, the fact that Manson took her to a restaurant that is known as a celebrity hotspot where paparazzi hang out also indicates that Manson was probably fine going out that night with her, otherwise he would have taken her somewhere he knew where paparazzi don't hang around. He is not hiding her, but showcasing her. The only scenario I can think of where Manson would berate her all night for not wanting to be out with her is if she was insisting on going to a celebrity hotspot while Manson would have preferred not to, but Manson is not known as one to hide from the paparazzi. And if he did go there against his will, then Esme's argument of Manson having total control over her life would be contradicted.
Concluding Remarks:
Like Evan, Esme does not want us to trust our own senses, instead she wants to create a narrative of events the way she sees them, and will not tolerate any other interpretation. She does this by taking a photo of herself, editing out everything and darkening and blurring the background except her face and upper body which are also darkened in the photo to make us focus on her colorless eyes and smile, and writing up a story about this photo to make herself look like a helpless damsel in distress. But the more we see the entire photo in its setting, the sinister element diminishes quickly, you see its brightness, and it looks like any other picture of someone getting their gift on their birthday. Esme admits that she was in love with Manson at the time, that everything that took place between them was consensual, and no resistance was ever made if it needed to be made. Esme fails to account for anything she may be responsible for in her relationship with Manson, such as when she and Manson's assistant Ashley Walters took without permission Manson's keys to his only car that he loved and got drunk and totaled it in an accident. If she had such terror and fear of Manson, as she now claims, why would she dare take his car without his permission and return to him after she totaled it? This is a story Esme never tells, because it doesn't fit her narrative. Esme only tells stories that fit her narrative. Which is also why she doesn't mention her still going to Manson concerts and quoting Manson lyrics until at least 2015, with her fellow cohort Ashley Walters. We will discuss these things more in a future article, but the point here is that Esme, like Evan, is very careful in drawing up a narrative of how she wants us to perceive events from 2009 and 2011, through the lenses of newly-acquired resentment against Manson following her supposed PTSD diagnosis in 2018. Evidence of this can be seen by her Instagram post the next day in 2019, on March 12th, where she posted a photo of her prescription medication, which she fully blames Marilyn Manson for having to take on a daily basis, even though she talks about having anxiety and panic attacks unrelated to abuse that she chose to ascribe to Manson after 2018, and become part of a movement in which she now aspires, like Evan, to become a powerful voice for women, a hero, a survivor - all part of a narrative that did not exist for Esme before 2018.
Like Evan, Esme does not want us to trust our own senses, instead she wants to create a narrative of events the way she sees them, and will not tolerate any other interpretation. She does this by taking a photo of herself, editing out everything and darkening and blurring the background except her face and upper body which are also darkened in the photo to make us focus on her colorless eyes and smile, and writing up a story about this photo to make herself look like a helpless damsel in distress. But the more we see the entire photo in its setting, the sinister element diminishes quickly, you see its brightness, and it looks like any other picture of someone getting their gift on their birthday. Esme admits that she was in love with Manson at the time, that everything that took place between them was consensual, and no resistance was ever made if it needed to be made. Esme fails to account for anything she may be responsible for in her relationship with Manson, such as when she and Manson's assistant Ashley Walters took without permission Manson's keys to his only car that he loved and got drunk and totaled it in an accident. If she had such terror and fear of Manson, as she now claims, why would she dare take his car without his permission and return to him after she totaled it? This is a story Esme never tells, because it doesn't fit her narrative. Esme only tells stories that fit her narrative. Which is also why she doesn't mention her still going to Manson concerts and quoting Manson lyrics until at least 2015, with her fellow cohort Ashley Walters. We will discuss these things more in a future article, but the point here is that Esme, like Evan, is very careful in drawing up a narrative of how she wants us to perceive events from 2009 and 2011, through the lenses of newly-acquired resentment against Manson following her supposed PTSD diagnosis in 2018. Evidence of this can be seen by her Instagram post the next day in 2019, on March 12th, where she posted a photo of her prescription medication, which she fully blames Marilyn Manson for having to take on a daily basis, even though she talks about having anxiety and panic attacks unrelated to abuse that she chose to ascribe to Manson after 2018, and become part of a movement in which she now aspires, like Evan, to become a powerful voice for women, a hero, a survivor - all part of a narrative that did not exist for Esme before 2018.
