"Some people tried to get me to say that Marilyn Manson raped me, but it wasn't true." - Paz de la Huerta In a recent interview with the Italian publication Mow Mag (April 27, 2024), actress Paz de la Huerta was asked what she thought about the well-known Johnny Depp and Kevin Spacey cases, and her response was as follows (translated from the original Italian): "As for Johnny, I think he's really innocent. Some people tried to get me to say that Marilyn Manson raped me, but it wasn't true. I've been a real victim of Weinstein and other people who are going to pay, but I tell you that I know women who have lied. I didn't follow Kevin Spacey's trial, but I think it's a very different case than Depp's. However, in general, rape is a horrible thing, it ruins lives. I know something about it." Though it is a very brief and understandably overlooked mention, her statement about Marilyn Manson is very significant as the first public sta
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It appears that Ashley Walters remained relatively quiet regarding her alleged abuse and anything that has to do with Marilyn Manson from March 2019 till February 1, 2021. Later we will find out that she was very much active during this time in regards to those things, but her first public statement about the abuse she allegedly suffered by her former employer Marilyn Manson came on the day Evan Rachel Wood first named her abuser. On February 1, 2021, Evan named Marilyn Manson as her abuser for the first time, and this was followed by others who made accusations of abuse and assault, many of whom coordinated before this time to issue their statements together on the same day. Among these women was Ashley Walters, a long-time friend of nearly all of Manson's accusers, who posted the statement above on her Instagram account, along with what appears to be three text messages from Marilyn Manson to Ashley Walters dating to January 6th and 7th 2011. Evan Rachel Wood and others quickly reposted everything above in their InstaStories.
Below is an analysis of the statement and texts above:
1. "Brian Warner aka Marilyn Manson"
Those who coordinated their online social media attack on Marilyn Manson decided to call him by his legal birth name, Brian Warner, no doubt to separate him from his Marilyn Manson persona in the minds of readers and make a clear division between the artist we all know and think we understand from the real person that they claimed to know on a more intimate level. Thus, by them addressing Manson as Brian Warner, they are telling us that they knew Manson on a much more intimate level than most who will read this, and therefore they can be trusted to give accurate information from behind the scenes we are not privy to.
2. "reached out to me on social media in 2010, asking if we can collaborate on a photo shoot together...."
This is vague, as it leaves out a lot of information. It is assumed this contact was on MySpace or Facebook. Prior to this, Walters had a Flickr and Pinterest account where she posted her photos. According to this timeline, the contact would have been around March or April 2010, which is interesting because Manson was engaged to Evan Rachel Wood at the time and had just begun a certain relationship with his current wife Lindsay, who is also a photographer. This seems to therefore indicate that Manson was looking for a photographer at the time for one of his projects.
3. "We quickly became friends, and after about 6 months he asked me to come work for him full time as his personal assistant."
Walters describes her early relationship with Manson as a friendship. We know she started working as his assistant in August 2010, around the time Manson's engagement to Evan ended and he was publicly seen with his current wife Lindsay just days later.
4. So far, Walters has carefully chosen her words by saying "he reached out to me on social media" to "collaborate on a photo shoot" and "he asked me to come work for him full time as his personal assistant." Nowhere does she ever indicate she had anything to do with pursuing these positions, nor even accepting what was offered. She clearly wants to show that Manson was eager to have her, while she just naturally received these opportunities as they were handed to her.
5. "In the beginning, he'd put me on a pedestal and would tell me I was saving his life; he'd frequently say things like 'it's us against the world.'"
Again, "he'd put me", he "would tell me" and "he'd frequently". We are getting more and more into the language used by victims of grooming. If they had been in a relationship, no doubt she would have accused him of "love bombing" as well. However, if true, this all could just mean he really liked her and appreciated her, and that's it. It is important to note that so far, we are not hearing of any details or any reactions on her part, except in the beginning when she said she was "excited" to work for him, which means that the enthusiasm was shared, as far as we know up to this point.
Below is an analysis of the statement and texts above:
1. "Brian Warner aka Marilyn Manson"
Those who coordinated their online social media attack on Marilyn Manson decided to call him by his legal birth name, Brian Warner, no doubt to separate him from his Marilyn Manson persona in the minds of readers and make a clear division between the artist we all know and think we understand from the real person that they claimed to know on a more intimate level. Thus, by them addressing Manson as Brian Warner, they are telling us that they knew Manson on a much more intimate level than most who will read this, and therefore they can be trusted to give accurate information from behind the scenes we are not privy to.
2. "reached out to me on social media in 2010, asking if we can collaborate on a photo shoot together...."
This is vague, as it leaves out a lot of information. It is assumed this contact was on MySpace or Facebook. Prior to this, Walters had a Flickr and Pinterest account where she posted her photos. According to this timeline, the contact would have been around March or April 2010, which is interesting because Manson was engaged to Evan Rachel Wood at the time and had just begun a certain relationship with his current wife Lindsay, who is also a photographer. This seems to therefore indicate that Manson was looking for a photographer at the time for one of his projects.
3. "We quickly became friends, and after about 6 months he asked me to come work for him full time as his personal assistant."
Walters describes her early relationship with Manson as a friendship. We know she started working as his assistant in August 2010, around the time Manson's engagement to Evan ended and he was publicly seen with his current wife Lindsay just days later.
4. So far, Walters has carefully chosen her words by saying "he reached out to me on social media" to "collaborate on a photo shoot" and "he asked me to come work for him full time as his personal assistant." Nowhere does she ever indicate she had anything to do with pursuing these positions, nor even accepting what was offered. She clearly wants to show that Manson was eager to have her, while she just naturally received these opportunities as they were handed to her.
5. "In the beginning, he'd put me on a pedestal and would tell me I was saving his life; he'd frequently say things like 'it's us against the world.'"
Again, "he'd put me", he "would tell me" and "he'd frequently". We are getting more and more into the language used by victims of grooming. If they had been in a relationship, no doubt she would have accused him of "love bombing" as well. However, if true, this all could just mean he really liked her and appreciated her, and that's it. It is important to note that so far, we are not hearing of any details or any reactions on her part, except in the beginning when she said she was "excited" to work for him, which means that the enthusiasm was shared, as far as we know up to this point.
"It's us against the world" is a common phrase used by Manson at the time which he would address to people he trusted and he felt were there for him when no one else seemed to be. For example, he said something similar to Evan Rachel Wood when they first began a relationship to indicate that she alone understood him and was there for him and he only trusted her. Manson used similar phrases for his fans, as well. Also, "Us Against the World" is a song from the time by Coldplay from their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto (2011). The fact that Manson was absent any steady girlfriend while Walters worked for him and he was seeing various women throughout the time that he would later label as difficult or crazy, she remained a stable female presence in his life that he seemed to really appreciate.
6. "We became extremely close, like family."
This is the third time she uses the word "we" in the statement so far. First it was "asking if we could collaborate", then "we quickly became friends", and now "we became extremely close." It indicates a gradual ascent in the relationship, from a working relationship, to a friendship, and now they are practically "like family". But according to Ashley, it was "he" that did it. While Manson's intentions with Ashley could have been noble, good and pure, on February 1st 2021 Walters is trying to tell us that she believes Manson was grooming her by gradually lifting her up and up and up.
7. "We even got matching tattoos."
Walters views them getting matching tattoos as a sign or reward of her elevated status in the eyes of Manson. As far as we know, Manson only gets matching tattoos with girlfriends, band members and close friends, so he must have considered her like a close friend he wanted to share a bond with at that moment in time. Likely it was a tattoo Manson was going to get for himself, and Walters joined in, especially when you consider what the tattoo was. The tattoo was the word BOOM, which Manson got on the left side of his lower back and Walters go on the inside of her upper right forearm. The word BOOM is a reference to Manson's favorite show at the time, Eastbound & Down, which he would often quote from, especially saying the word "boom" which was a phrase Kenny Powers often says on the show while shooting a finger gun. As far as can be determined, both Manson and Walters still have this tattoo, but it was last seen on Manson in 2017 in his video for the song "Kill4Me" and last seen on Walters in a photo from her Instagram account in 2018.
It is important to also note another reason Walters included this detail in her statement. At the time, certain accusers were making the case that Manson would brand his victims either with cuts or tattoos, and on a few occasions it was alleged that they would drink each others blood and thus enter into a blood pact. These actions were seen as Manson trying to be a cult leader who would groom his victims to the point where he would make them feel as close to him as possible in order to exert his control over them so he could gain their absolute trust and loyalty while he abuses them in a monstrous fashion. However, it should be stated that while most of these allegations are viewed as fabrications by Manson, what is true is that he got tattoos with important people in his life, including Ashley Walters. This is a common practice among people who were in Manson's circle that placed special significance on tattoos. For example, the late Laney Chantal had a number of matching tattoos with her closest friends, including some who were in Manson's circle of friends.
6. "We became extremely close, like family."
This is the third time she uses the word "we" in the statement so far. First it was "asking if we could collaborate", then "we quickly became friends", and now "we became extremely close." It indicates a gradual ascent in the relationship, from a working relationship, to a friendship, and now they are practically "like family". But according to Ashley, it was "he" that did it. While Manson's intentions with Ashley could have been noble, good and pure, on February 1st 2021 Walters is trying to tell us that she believes Manson was grooming her by gradually lifting her up and up and up.
7. "We even got matching tattoos."
Walters views them getting matching tattoos as a sign or reward of her elevated status in the eyes of Manson. As far as we know, Manson only gets matching tattoos with girlfriends, band members and close friends, so he must have considered her like a close friend he wanted to share a bond with at that moment in time. Likely it was a tattoo Manson was going to get for himself, and Walters joined in, especially when you consider what the tattoo was. The tattoo was the word BOOM, which Manson got on the left side of his lower back and Walters go on the inside of her upper right forearm. The word BOOM is a reference to Manson's favorite show at the time, Eastbound & Down, which he would often quote from, especially saying the word "boom" which was a phrase Kenny Powers often says on the show while shooting a finger gun. As far as can be determined, both Manson and Walters still have this tattoo, but it was last seen on Manson in 2017 in his video for the song "Kill4Me" and last seen on Walters in a photo from her Instagram account in 2018.
It is important to also note another reason Walters included this detail in her statement. At the time, certain accusers were making the case that Manson would brand his victims either with cuts or tattoos, and on a few occasions it was alleged that they would drink each others blood and thus enter into a blood pact. These actions were seen as Manson trying to be a cult leader who would groom his victims to the point where he would make them feel as close to him as possible in order to exert his control over them so he could gain their absolute trust and loyalty while he abuses them in a monstrous fashion. However, it should be stated that while most of these allegations are viewed as fabrications by Manson, what is true is that he got tattoos with important people in his life, including Ashley Walters. This is a common practice among people who were in Manson's circle that placed special significance on tattoos. For example, the late Laney Chantal had a number of matching tattoos with her closest friends, including some who were in Manson's circle of friends.
8. "He presented his house as a safe space, where you could express yourself freely and without judgement."
This is true. Manson has spoken about this a lot in interviews, how he moved into an apartment above a liquor store in Los Angeles where Billy Zane once lived and where he had many years prior done his first painting. “I just made a place where you could create whatever you wanted at any time, but not have any distractions,” he described it one interview. It was designed for maximum creativity, with a home studio and a space for painting. In an interview he listed the things he brought with him while he placed everything else he owned in storage: "My books, paints, musical instruments, movies and my photography equipment. The essentials. Less is more.” It was supposed to be modeled after the apartment David Bowie and Iggy Pop stayed in while in West Berlin that rejuvenated their creativity and careers in the 1970's, or the New York City house of Andy Warhol in the 1960's in which he spent the most creative period of his career. However, the way Ashley Walters talks about it, it was anything but what it was modeled after.
9. "I didn't realize he was gathering information that he'd later use against me."
This is the second time in her statement Walters uses the word "I". First she used it in the beginning with "I was excited" and now she uses it as "I didn't realize". This is significant, because this indicates she is trying to present herself as an innocent victim who was naive of the manipulations going on around her.
Also, while the prior sentence was true, this sentence is false. There is no evidence that Walters has presented thus far showing Manson gathered information to use against Walters. Yes, she had an NDA, which is standard in the industry. What possible information is there that he could have used against her? The fact that she got a DUI when she crashed Manson's only car? What other dark episode in her story does Manson have? There is no evidence Manson used any information about Walters against her, as far as we know till this day. Therefore, as of right now, until more information comes to light, we can only consider this sentence vague and untrue as far as we know.
What is interesting with this sentence is that Walters is the one who is gaslighting. We have plenty of evidence that Walters gathered and stole information about Manson and shared it with Evan Rachel Wood, Illma Gore, Esme Bianco and no doubt others, including his social security number, passwords, contacts and past discreet relationships. To twist this accusation of something she did onto Manson as if he did it to her is preposterous.
10. "I soon became a victim of his psychological abuse...."
Now that Ashley has ascended to the peak of her relationship with Manson, where she was like family to him, we come to the point where Ashley will begin to recount her descent, where Manson casts her into the abyss through methods of abuse. Up until now she has not accused Manson of anything, but here she begins with the psychological abuse she says she suffered from him, and not only her, but she says she witnessed him inflict this same abuse on his inner circle, which includes "everyone" he employed and "everyone" he dated. She says this psychological abuse came in the form of gaslighting, where "he would dictate the perimeters of our reality."
No examples are given to offer any context or substantiation of this. These are wide-ranging accusations, especially when you include all his employees and all his girlfriends. What Walters is really saying is the employees and girlfriends she continued to hang around with after her employment with Manson and continues to be friends with and can be seen partying with and vacationing with on her Instagram. No one she has not been friends with all these years offer any substantiation of these claims. Literally not one. Only her own close, personal friends and network. Those she did not remain friends with say the opposite of what she says and consider her a false accuser. Later on she will, for example, even cite Greta Aurora in her lawsuit to substantiate one of her claims, but Greta, who supports Manson, made a video on YouTube indicating her displeasure in being cited by Walters. And the woman who dated Manson the most while Walters was employed is his current wife Lindsay, who scoffs at such claims.
To substantiate her claims, Walters would need to get the signature of every employee and everyone Manson dated while she was his assistant. As I said, what you will find is that the only names she will come up with are names of people she has been partying and vacationing with for many years, or has some sort of business or other relationship for many years.
11. "Horrifying, deranged behavior, and insane scenarios became normalized."
Uhmm, you worked for Marilyn Manson, who is literally known worldwide for these things; it's part of his brand. This is hardly an accusation, since everyone can cite something to substantiate this, even people who know little about Manson, or just rumors about him. Something that may be horrifying, deranged and insane to one person may not be so to another. It is a very subjective interpretation that Walters has every right to have, but from the information we are given here it is only limited to how she interprets it. I'm sure if I were to hang out with Walters and her friends for one night, I may interpret her behavior as horrifying, deranged and insane, which she would consider normal. That would be my interpretation, but it doesn't really have any substance to it unless actual crimes are being committed, but Walters never says these scenarios resulted in crimes. Deranged behavior and criminal behavior could be the same thing, but not necessarily. I guess we are just supposed to take her word for it.
12. "He was extremely interested in mind control, torture tactics..., and spy devices...."
Again, without examples, this is a very vague accusation, but fortunately Walters decides to give us a few examples.
As for mind control and torture tactics, she offers as an example "different sound frequencies that would shift your mood, or make you nauseous." It is baffling that Walters would cite this as an example. Manson has openly admitted to doing this for years, in many and various ways. Many musicians do this. He even says in an interview how one time he experimented so much that he made himself nauseous. This isn't a mind control technique or a torture tactic, like he is an officer at Guantanamo Bay trying to get prisoners to spill their secrets. This is called being a musician. In fact, one of Manson's favorite directors and movies - Irreversible (2002) by Gaspar Noe - is notorious for playing with sound frequencies to put his viewers in a particular mood and even make them nauseous, which audiences pay for to experience in theaters (myself included, and yes it was effective).
Regarding spy devices, she doesn't give us any details, but she just says he was extremely interested in them in order to blackmail and manipulate people. However, again, she gives us no examples, offers us no names or specific incidents. For all we know, he may have just expressed interest once in a conversation in spy devices that some one else brought up, and Walters assumed or now assumes it was because Manson wanted to blackmail and manipulate. With no specific example, the assumption has to be that this is all an exaggeration or interpretation of Walters that has no basis in reality as far as we know. What we do know, however, is that before she was fired, Walters gathered a bunch of private information about Manson, which would later be used by her against him.
13. "It felt like I was his property...."
Walters then accuses Manson of offering her up for sexual encounters to please potential collaborators or friends and he bragged that he could do so, which made her feel like she was his property. I find this to be a very odd accusation, at least the way it's worded, because she is saying that she felt like she was his property, not that he tried to make her his property. By the way it's worded, she is actually putting the blame on herself, so it isn't an accusation against Manson at all.
To add to the confusion of this accusation, we are not told whether or not Ashley had sex with these potential collaborators or friends. We are also not told that she objected to this, and he continued to do it, if he did do it at all. Moreover, we are not told whether or not Manson was just joking around, as he is wont to do, and if Ashley was in on the joke at the time, but later decided to view it as something more serious. This accusation just brings up more and more questions instead of giving us material to look upon Manson with disfavor. Nor does she name anyone who participated in this, which if she is trying to describe something criminal on Manson's part then others also would be involved in this criminal behavior against her.
This accusation just makes no sense.
14. "I'd be threatened if he wasn't happy with me."
Did he threaten to fire you if you did a bad job for him? This isn't a crime. How would he threaten you? What would you do that made him unhappy? What was threatened - your life, your job? We need a specific example, otherwise this just sounds like Ashley is being a disgruntled employee. Not all threats are bad. If an employee is late for work, their job will be threatened. Certain relationships have ultimatums. Employees who do not meet the demands of their employer are commonly threatened. This statement is sounding more and more like Ashley forgot and lost focus of the fact that she was a paid employee and not a typical best friend or sister to her boss.
15. "I'd ... be made to do impossible tasks so he could continue to berate me."
I know Ashley wants to manipulate her readers into thinking the worst of all possible scenarios, but justice demands that we be skeptical of all claims. Here, we are again not given any examples, but are expected to think of the worst possible scenario our imaginations could conjure. This is manipulation and a skilled method of propaganda.
What impossible tasks? Name just one. What made it impossible? Could no one in the world do it, or was it impossible for you? How did he berate you? Pointing out incompetence is not berating. There really is not much more you can say about this without at least an example.
16. "He isolated me from my family and friends...."
Anyone who followed Ashley's now deleted Twitter account and the now deleted portions of her Instagram account will remember that this is a lie so ridiculous it is almost criminal in itself that she would dare to bring it up. While she worked for Manson she posted almost daily on social media (and yes, people have saved these posts) of the many times she went on vacations and attended concerts with her friends. No wonder Ashley deleted the portions of her social media from the time she worked for Manson, in order to make this ridiculous claim.
This is true. Manson has spoken about this a lot in interviews, how he moved into an apartment above a liquor store in Los Angeles where Billy Zane once lived and where he had many years prior done his first painting. “I just made a place where you could create whatever you wanted at any time, but not have any distractions,” he described it one interview. It was designed for maximum creativity, with a home studio and a space for painting. In an interview he listed the things he brought with him while he placed everything else he owned in storage: "My books, paints, musical instruments, movies and my photography equipment. The essentials. Less is more.” It was supposed to be modeled after the apartment David Bowie and Iggy Pop stayed in while in West Berlin that rejuvenated their creativity and careers in the 1970's, or the New York City house of Andy Warhol in the 1960's in which he spent the most creative period of his career. However, the way Ashley Walters talks about it, it was anything but what it was modeled after.
9. "I didn't realize he was gathering information that he'd later use against me."
This is the second time in her statement Walters uses the word "I". First she used it in the beginning with "I was excited" and now she uses it as "I didn't realize". This is significant, because this indicates she is trying to present herself as an innocent victim who was naive of the manipulations going on around her.
Also, while the prior sentence was true, this sentence is false. There is no evidence that Walters has presented thus far showing Manson gathered information to use against Walters. Yes, she had an NDA, which is standard in the industry. What possible information is there that he could have used against her? The fact that she got a DUI when she crashed Manson's only car? What other dark episode in her story does Manson have? There is no evidence Manson used any information about Walters against her, as far as we know till this day. Therefore, as of right now, until more information comes to light, we can only consider this sentence vague and untrue as far as we know.
What is interesting with this sentence is that Walters is the one who is gaslighting. We have plenty of evidence that Walters gathered and stole information about Manson and shared it with Evan Rachel Wood, Illma Gore, Esme Bianco and no doubt others, including his social security number, passwords, contacts and past discreet relationships. To twist this accusation of something she did onto Manson as if he did it to her is preposterous.
10. "I soon became a victim of his psychological abuse...."
Now that Ashley has ascended to the peak of her relationship with Manson, where she was like family to him, we come to the point where Ashley will begin to recount her descent, where Manson casts her into the abyss through methods of abuse. Up until now she has not accused Manson of anything, but here she begins with the psychological abuse she says she suffered from him, and not only her, but she says she witnessed him inflict this same abuse on his inner circle, which includes "everyone" he employed and "everyone" he dated. She says this psychological abuse came in the form of gaslighting, where "he would dictate the perimeters of our reality."
No examples are given to offer any context or substantiation of this. These are wide-ranging accusations, especially when you include all his employees and all his girlfriends. What Walters is really saying is the employees and girlfriends she continued to hang around with after her employment with Manson and continues to be friends with and can be seen partying with and vacationing with on her Instagram. No one she has not been friends with all these years offer any substantiation of these claims. Literally not one. Only her own close, personal friends and network. Those she did not remain friends with say the opposite of what she says and consider her a false accuser. Later on she will, for example, even cite Greta Aurora in her lawsuit to substantiate one of her claims, but Greta, who supports Manson, made a video on YouTube indicating her displeasure in being cited by Walters. And the woman who dated Manson the most while Walters was employed is his current wife Lindsay, who scoffs at such claims.
To substantiate her claims, Walters would need to get the signature of every employee and everyone Manson dated while she was his assistant. As I said, what you will find is that the only names she will come up with are names of people she has been partying and vacationing with for many years, or has some sort of business or other relationship for many years.
11. "Horrifying, deranged behavior, and insane scenarios became normalized."
Uhmm, you worked for Marilyn Manson, who is literally known worldwide for these things; it's part of his brand. This is hardly an accusation, since everyone can cite something to substantiate this, even people who know little about Manson, or just rumors about him. Something that may be horrifying, deranged and insane to one person may not be so to another. It is a very subjective interpretation that Walters has every right to have, but from the information we are given here it is only limited to how she interprets it. I'm sure if I were to hang out with Walters and her friends for one night, I may interpret her behavior as horrifying, deranged and insane, which she would consider normal. That would be my interpretation, but it doesn't really have any substance to it unless actual crimes are being committed, but Walters never says these scenarios resulted in crimes. Deranged behavior and criminal behavior could be the same thing, but not necessarily. I guess we are just supposed to take her word for it.
12. "He was extremely interested in mind control, torture tactics..., and spy devices...."
Again, without examples, this is a very vague accusation, but fortunately Walters decides to give us a few examples.
As for mind control and torture tactics, she offers as an example "different sound frequencies that would shift your mood, or make you nauseous." It is baffling that Walters would cite this as an example. Manson has openly admitted to doing this for years, in many and various ways. Many musicians do this. He even says in an interview how one time he experimented so much that he made himself nauseous. This isn't a mind control technique or a torture tactic, like he is an officer at Guantanamo Bay trying to get prisoners to spill their secrets. This is called being a musician. In fact, one of Manson's favorite directors and movies - Irreversible (2002) by Gaspar Noe - is notorious for playing with sound frequencies to put his viewers in a particular mood and even make them nauseous, which audiences pay for to experience in theaters (myself included, and yes it was effective).
Regarding spy devices, she doesn't give us any details, but she just says he was extremely interested in them in order to blackmail and manipulate people. However, again, she gives us no examples, offers us no names or specific incidents. For all we know, he may have just expressed interest once in a conversation in spy devices that some one else brought up, and Walters assumed or now assumes it was because Manson wanted to blackmail and manipulate. With no specific example, the assumption has to be that this is all an exaggeration or interpretation of Walters that has no basis in reality as far as we know. What we do know, however, is that before she was fired, Walters gathered a bunch of private information about Manson, which would later be used by her against him.
13. "It felt like I was his property...."
Walters then accuses Manson of offering her up for sexual encounters to please potential collaborators or friends and he bragged that he could do so, which made her feel like she was his property. I find this to be a very odd accusation, at least the way it's worded, because she is saying that she felt like she was his property, not that he tried to make her his property. By the way it's worded, she is actually putting the blame on herself, so it isn't an accusation against Manson at all.
To add to the confusion of this accusation, we are not told whether or not Ashley had sex with these potential collaborators or friends. We are also not told that she objected to this, and he continued to do it, if he did do it at all. Moreover, we are not told whether or not Manson was just joking around, as he is wont to do, and if Ashley was in on the joke at the time, but later decided to view it as something more serious. This accusation just brings up more and more questions instead of giving us material to look upon Manson with disfavor. Nor does she name anyone who participated in this, which if she is trying to describe something criminal on Manson's part then others also would be involved in this criminal behavior against her.
This accusation just makes no sense.
14. "I'd be threatened if he wasn't happy with me."
Did he threaten to fire you if you did a bad job for him? This isn't a crime. How would he threaten you? What would you do that made him unhappy? What was threatened - your life, your job? We need a specific example, otherwise this just sounds like Ashley is being a disgruntled employee. Not all threats are bad. If an employee is late for work, their job will be threatened. Certain relationships have ultimatums. Employees who do not meet the demands of their employer are commonly threatened. This statement is sounding more and more like Ashley forgot and lost focus of the fact that she was a paid employee and not a typical best friend or sister to her boss.
15. "I'd ... be made to do impossible tasks so he could continue to berate me."
I know Ashley wants to manipulate her readers into thinking the worst of all possible scenarios, but justice demands that we be skeptical of all claims. Here, we are again not given any examples, but are expected to think of the worst possible scenario our imaginations could conjure. This is manipulation and a skilled method of propaganda.
What impossible tasks? Name just one. What made it impossible? Could no one in the world do it, or was it impossible for you? How did he berate you? Pointing out incompetence is not berating. There really is not much more you can say about this without at least an example.
16. "He isolated me from my family and friends...."
Anyone who followed Ashley's now deleted Twitter account and the now deleted portions of her Instagram account will remember that this is a lie so ridiculous it is almost criminal in itself that she would dare to bring it up. While she worked for Manson she posted almost daily on social media (and yes, people have saved these posts) of the many times she went on vacations and attended concerts with her friends. No wonder Ashley deleted the portions of her social media from the time she worked for Manson, in order to make this ridiculous claim.
Of course, when you are employed by a rock star as his personal assistant, who attends many events and travels the world for various reasons, part of your job is to be with him beyond the normal 40 hours a week. This goes for the fact also that Ashley's job was to work the hours set for her, which usually were night hours. So naturally, the job demands you not having the freedom to see family and friends whenever you want, sometimes for many days, and sometimes you will have issues with sleep. If this was an issue for her, she should have quit her job and worked a regular 9 to 5 job.
17. "He frequently became violent, throwing items including glass plates and heavy objects."
If Manson wants to throw around his own items in his house, he has every right to do so. Obviously he shouldn't aim those objects at anyone, but that is not what Ashley is claiming. She is merely claiming throwing his own objects in his own home. This is not a crime. If it is something she didn't appreciate him doing, did she ever ask him to stop doing it, did she ever threaten to quit her job unless he stopped? There is no indication she did anything to make it known that she disapproved of this behavior, so if it happened more than once, or if it happened at all, since this is just an allegation, then it is on her to make it known that she disapproves of this behavior as a paid employee.
18. "I feared for my safety or the safety of others."
Did Manson know you feared for your safety or the safety of others, or is he just hearing about this ten years later. Even if you did fear for your or someone else's safety, it means nothing if Manson wasn't aware of your fear and you allowed him to do what he does without making your thoughts and feelings known.
19. "I'd let management know when I was having an exceptionally bad experience...."
Okay, that's fine. Maybe you were too scared to approach Manson during what you perceived to be a scary moment, so you went to management. Management confirmed that this is part of the job, which is to deal with these situations. If you didn't like it at the time, then you should have told management that this job is not the right fit for you, and you should have left immediately. No one forced you to stay. The fact that you did stay tells me that you weighed the pro's and the con's and still continued with the job because the pro's exceeded the con's. Maybe ten years later you regretted not leaving, but it was your choice to stay, and you accepted whatever negatives may have come with the job.
20. "Sometimes I was too scared to tell management everything."
Like what? If it came to this point, then again, you bear the responsibility on yourself for continuing with your employment. In fact, you bear even more responsibility, because no one was begging you to stay. It is neither Manson's fault or management's fault that you chose every day to go to work despite your fears.
21. "Sometimes I was told it was my fault because I wasn't setting enough boundaries."
Absolutely it was your fault! If you have a complaint in a work environment, you either leave or you set boundaries. There is no other choice. How incompetent of an employee do you have to be to not understand this? Yes, Ashley, if everything you said is true, and we don't know if it is or not, or if you are just letting your imagination run wild and are exaggerating, but if it is true, then it is your fault you did not set boundaries. You told us earlier that Manson would "inflict his psychological abuse on everyone he employed," yet management is clearly disagreeing with you and is telling you to set boundaries, but you refused. It is your fault.
22. "A year or so later, our professional relationship ended."
So everything that we read so far took place at the beginning of her employment? And she stayed with him? If she chose to stay for a year after all this, then it was something she chose, not slavery or forced labor. Funny how all of a sudden she is calling it a "professional relationship". Up until now she wasn't treating it in a professional way. Also, why doesn't she mention why the "professional relationship" ended, which primarily centered around her incompetence, her laziness and her drug and alcohol addiction.
23. "He continued to harass me and smear my reputation for months...."
A vague claim with no examples. There should be evidence of this if this were true. Instead what we have evidence of is Walters and her friends attending Manson concerts, sometimes even driving for hours to Las Vegas to attend his shows, and this continued for years. No evidence has been presented that Ashley suffered financial harm. However, maybe Manson told potential future employers of Walters the truth, and explained to them why he fired her twice. If a potential employer heard the truth from Manson, then of course that potential employer will look for someone more competent, less lazy, in control of their alcohol and drug habits. All employees when they leave a job make sure to leave it in a way that they get a good recommendation letter from their former boss in order to get a similar or better job in the future. What I am reading here is that Ashley did not earn a good recommendation letter from her former employer.
24. "By then, I'd grown close with several of Manson's bandmates, girlfriends and friends. I witnessed them...."
Here Ashley is admitting that she did not try to escape from Manson's world, but grounded herself even more firmly into his circle by befriending his friends and bandmates and girlfriends. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? She could have left his world, but decided to stay even when her employment was over. It sounds like she really liked his world, and didn't mind if she would continue to see him and attend events with him from time to time, and she certainly didn't mind if his bandmates and friends told him things about her. Eventually, these people who Ashley became close with and who formed their own circle of friendship would consist of the great majority of Manson's accusers, and eventually a conspiracy was formed to bring down Manson. None of them ever talked negatively about Manson for years, at least not about abuse, because they were all fans of his still, and had mutual friends who hung out with Manson and worked with him and toured with him. The change of their mentality didn't come till the rise of the #MeToo movement and Evan Rachel Wood's 2018 congressional testimony, when Esme Bianco, one of Walter's best friends, joined the Phoenix Act movement.
25. "It took me a long time to fully realize and process the trauma I went through and witnessed."
I will speak more on this elsewhere in this series, but eventually Ashley will say that she didn't realize the abuse she suffered until the "Survivor's Meeting" in October 2020, when she heard the stories of others and related to them, which then led her to seek therapy where her therapist helped her recall incidents of abuse. This is very problematic, and indicates that she may either be creating false memories or exaggerating memories based on the stories of others and being immersed in MeToo hysteria. In her lawsuit against Manson, she will even admit that during the "Survivor's Meeting" people had to tell her how Manson abused her, as if she was manipulated into thinking it, much like Ashley Morgan Smithline would later describe when she recanted her allegations against Manson.
26. "My very first panic attack occurred while working there."
This may be true, and as a matter of fact not surprising. My first panic attack occurred when I was working overnights as a security officer while working on my graduate degree full time. I was getting little sleep, drinking a lot of caffeine, and stressed. This led me to having continuous panic attacks for six months. The fact that Walter's would have to work nights, probably had trouble adjusting to the hours, had to keep up with Manson's work schedule which could be intense, was drinking and doing cocaine and no doubt caffeine, and attending various events and parties, leads me to conclude that this alone should have caused her to have many massive panic attacks. There is no need to include "abuse" among the factors that would lead to panic attacks.
27. "I continue to suffer from PTSD, and struggle with depression...."
If Ashley was diagnosed with PTSD, it would have been when she began therapy towards the end of 2020 and before this statement was written in early 2021. This means that she lived with the symptoms of PTSD for nearly ten years and never had the need to explore why. How do we even know she has PTSD? What kind of testing did she go through to arrive at that conclusion? What are her symptoms? Is working for Manson the only traumatic thing that ever happened to her, if she does have it? A panic attack is not a symptom of PTSD on its own, since they are very common. If that is her only reference to having PTSD, then she certainly does not have PTSD. Why wasn't her PTSD ever triggered the many times she went to go see Manson in concert after her employment and then proceed to go see him in his dressing room after the shows? What about hanging out with his inner circle for years? The PTSD claim makes no sense and probably is not true. Also, therapists throw out PTSD as a diagnosis all the time just to label certain symptoms when in reality the patient does not have PTSD. I know this from personal experience. As for depression, is Walters willing to testify that her first bout of depression took place while working with Manson? A lot of people get depressed, sometimes it is just in their brain functioning. To blame it on Manson after ten years she would need really good tracing abilities of how he is the cause.
28. "It became clear the abuse he's caused; he continues to inflict on so many...."
Here Walters repeats what she said earlier about being friends with people close to him and hearing their stories of survival. However, as we will learn, these stories were not heard by Ashley until Evan and Esme came forward, and then when she attended the "Survivor's Meeting" in October 2020. She makes it sound as if they were circulating these stories prior to this, when they were not. As far as we know today, no one has ever shared such a story from Ashley's circle of friends before 2019, and no one even dares to make the claim that they did. As for who Manson continues to inflict his abuse upon, she doesn't say nor does she give names. This merely sounds like she is trying to make a case for the urgency of the matter, while having no evidence to back up her claims, unless she bought into the lies of Annie Abrams who made claims against Manson in late 2020, even though she was quickly discredited.
29. "Brian Warner needs to be held accountable."
Ten years after working for him, she finally concludes that Manson needs to be held accountable. If he had done what she claims, and believed he needed to be held accountable, she would have gone to the police sooner. Instead, she needed others to convince her that her former boss was a bad guy, long after the statute of limitations applied to her case. Rather, like part of the herd under the control of Evan and Illma and Esme, she decided to hold him accountable on Instagram, and launch a media campaign against him, riding the waves of MeToo hysteria.
30. Text Message #1, #2 and #3
When Ashley Walters first posted her statement on February 1, 2021, she included three text messages, which Evan Rachel Wood reposted in her InstaStories. However, soon after, the text messages were removed by Walters, yet because people saved them they began to circulate without any context. I assume this is because the text messages make no sense, unless someone could interpret what we are seeing and what the context is.
The first text message seems to be from Manson to Walters and is dated January 6, 2011. It is time stamped at 7:24 PM and says that Evan is gone until tomorrow, then something about being hydrated that makes no sense, then something about the Le Montrose Suite Hotel in West Hollywood. If I were to interpret this text, it seems like Manson was asking Walters to make plans for him and Evan to meet at the Le Montrose Hotel the next day. The part about "hydrated" seems to either be missing a word or Walters knows what he is talking about that makes no sense to us.
The second text message seems again to be from Manson to Walters and is dated January 6, 2011. It is time stamped at 11:37 PM and is a photo of some part of the human body. People have given various interpretations of what we are exactly seeing, but no one can seem to figure it out. Some think it is a shoulder and upper back, some think it is a buttocks, and others give various other possibilities. Whatever it is, it seems to either have stretch marks or signs of binding. No other information comes from this text message.
The third text message seems to be from Manson to Walters and is dated January 7, 2011. It is time stamped at what looks like 4:01 PM, and shows Manson is frustrated with Evan. It appears that she was doing something, it wrapped and she was 45 minutes away with traffic. They seem to have had plans to meet, but Evan changed the plans, leaving Manson hanging. This is why in his frustration he says at the beginning, "I wanna smash Evan's head in."
17. "He frequently became violent, throwing items including glass plates and heavy objects."
If Manson wants to throw around his own items in his house, he has every right to do so. Obviously he shouldn't aim those objects at anyone, but that is not what Ashley is claiming. She is merely claiming throwing his own objects in his own home. This is not a crime. If it is something she didn't appreciate him doing, did she ever ask him to stop doing it, did she ever threaten to quit her job unless he stopped? There is no indication she did anything to make it known that she disapproved of this behavior, so if it happened more than once, or if it happened at all, since this is just an allegation, then it is on her to make it known that she disapproves of this behavior as a paid employee.
18. "I feared for my safety or the safety of others."
Did Manson know you feared for your safety or the safety of others, or is he just hearing about this ten years later. Even if you did fear for your or someone else's safety, it means nothing if Manson wasn't aware of your fear and you allowed him to do what he does without making your thoughts and feelings known.
19. "I'd let management know when I was having an exceptionally bad experience...."
Okay, that's fine. Maybe you were too scared to approach Manson during what you perceived to be a scary moment, so you went to management. Management confirmed that this is part of the job, which is to deal with these situations. If you didn't like it at the time, then you should have told management that this job is not the right fit for you, and you should have left immediately. No one forced you to stay. The fact that you did stay tells me that you weighed the pro's and the con's and still continued with the job because the pro's exceeded the con's. Maybe ten years later you regretted not leaving, but it was your choice to stay, and you accepted whatever negatives may have come with the job.
20. "Sometimes I was too scared to tell management everything."
Like what? If it came to this point, then again, you bear the responsibility on yourself for continuing with your employment. In fact, you bear even more responsibility, because no one was begging you to stay. It is neither Manson's fault or management's fault that you chose every day to go to work despite your fears.
21. "Sometimes I was told it was my fault because I wasn't setting enough boundaries."
Absolutely it was your fault! If you have a complaint in a work environment, you either leave or you set boundaries. There is no other choice. How incompetent of an employee do you have to be to not understand this? Yes, Ashley, if everything you said is true, and we don't know if it is or not, or if you are just letting your imagination run wild and are exaggerating, but if it is true, then it is your fault you did not set boundaries. You told us earlier that Manson would "inflict his psychological abuse on everyone he employed," yet management is clearly disagreeing with you and is telling you to set boundaries, but you refused. It is your fault.
22. "A year or so later, our professional relationship ended."
So everything that we read so far took place at the beginning of her employment? And she stayed with him? If she chose to stay for a year after all this, then it was something she chose, not slavery or forced labor. Funny how all of a sudden she is calling it a "professional relationship". Up until now she wasn't treating it in a professional way. Also, why doesn't she mention why the "professional relationship" ended, which primarily centered around her incompetence, her laziness and her drug and alcohol addiction.
23. "He continued to harass me and smear my reputation for months...."
A vague claim with no examples. There should be evidence of this if this were true. Instead what we have evidence of is Walters and her friends attending Manson concerts, sometimes even driving for hours to Las Vegas to attend his shows, and this continued for years. No evidence has been presented that Ashley suffered financial harm. However, maybe Manson told potential future employers of Walters the truth, and explained to them why he fired her twice. If a potential employer heard the truth from Manson, then of course that potential employer will look for someone more competent, less lazy, in control of their alcohol and drug habits. All employees when they leave a job make sure to leave it in a way that they get a good recommendation letter from their former boss in order to get a similar or better job in the future. What I am reading here is that Ashley did not earn a good recommendation letter from her former employer.
24. "By then, I'd grown close with several of Manson's bandmates, girlfriends and friends. I witnessed them...."
Here Ashley is admitting that she did not try to escape from Manson's world, but grounded herself even more firmly into his circle by befriending his friends and bandmates and girlfriends. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? She could have left his world, but decided to stay even when her employment was over. It sounds like she really liked his world, and didn't mind if she would continue to see him and attend events with him from time to time, and she certainly didn't mind if his bandmates and friends told him things about her. Eventually, these people who Ashley became close with and who formed their own circle of friendship would consist of the great majority of Manson's accusers, and eventually a conspiracy was formed to bring down Manson. None of them ever talked negatively about Manson for years, at least not about abuse, because they were all fans of his still, and had mutual friends who hung out with Manson and worked with him and toured with him. The change of their mentality didn't come till the rise of the #MeToo movement and Evan Rachel Wood's 2018 congressional testimony, when Esme Bianco, one of Walter's best friends, joined the Phoenix Act movement.
25. "It took me a long time to fully realize and process the trauma I went through and witnessed."
I will speak more on this elsewhere in this series, but eventually Ashley will say that she didn't realize the abuse she suffered until the "Survivor's Meeting" in October 2020, when she heard the stories of others and related to them, which then led her to seek therapy where her therapist helped her recall incidents of abuse. This is very problematic, and indicates that she may either be creating false memories or exaggerating memories based on the stories of others and being immersed in MeToo hysteria. In her lawsuit against Manson, she will even admit that during the "Survivor's Meeting" people had to tell her how Manson abused her, as if she was manipulated into thinking it, much like Ashley Morgan Smithline would later describe when she recanted her allegations against Manson.
26. "My very first panic attack occurred while working there."
This may be true, and as a matter of fact not surprising. My first panic attack occurred when I was working overnights as a security officer while working on my graduate degree full time. I was getting little sleep, drinking a lot of caffeine, and stressed. This led me to having continuous panic attacks for six months. The fact that Walter's would have to work nights, probably had trouble adjusting to the hours, had to keep up with Manson's work schedule which could be intense, was drinking and doing cocaine and no doubt caffeine, and attending various events and parties, leads me to conclude that this alone should have caused her to have many massive panic attacks. There is no need to include "abuse" among the factors that would lead to panic attacks.
27. "I continue to suffer from PTSD, and struggle with depression...."
If Ashley was diagnosed with PTSD, it would have been when she began therapy towards the end of 2020 and before this statement was written in early 2021. This means that she lived with the symptoms of PTSD for nearly ten years and never had the need to explore why. How do we even know she has PTSD? What kind of testing did she go through to arrive at that conclusion? What are her symptoms? Is working for Manson the only traumatic thing that ever happened to her, if she does have it? A panic attack is not a symptom of PTSD on its own, since they are very common. If that is her only reference to having PTSD, then she certainly does not have PTSD. Why wasn't her PTSD ever triggered the many times she went to go see Manson in concert after her employment and then proceed to go see him in his dressing room after the shows? What about hanging out with his inner circle for years? The PTSD claim makes no sense and probably is not true. Also, therapists throw out PTSD as a diagnosis all the time just to label certain symptoms when in reality the patient does not have PTSD. I know this from personal experience. As for depression, is Walters willing to testify that her first bout of depression took place while working with Manson? A lot of people get depressed, sometimes it is just in their brain functioning. To blame it on Manson after ten years she would need really good tracing abilities of how he is the cause.
28. "It became clear the abuse he's caused; he continues to inflict on so many...."
Here Walters repeats what she said earlier about being friends with people close to him and hearing their stories of survival. However, as we will learn, these stories were not heard by Ashley until Evan and Esme came forward, and then when she attended the "Survivor's Meeting" in October 2020. She makes it sound as if they were circulating these stories prior to this, when they were not. As far as we know today, no one has ever shared such a story from Ashley's circle of friends before 2019, and no one even dares to make the claim that they did. As for who Manson continues to inflict his abuse upon, she doesn't say nor does she give names. This merely sounds like she is trying to make a case for the urgency of the matter, while having no evidence to back up her claims, unless she bought into the lies of Annie Abrams who made claims against Manson in late 2020, even though she was quickly discredited.
29. "Brian Warner needs to be held accountable."
Ten years after working for him, she finally concludes that Manson needs to be held accountable. If he had done what she claims, and believed he needed to be held accountable, she would have gone to the police sooner. Instead, she needed others to convince her that her former boss was a bad guy, long after the statute of limitations applied to her case. Rather, like part of the herd under the control of Evan and Illma and Esme, she decided to hold him accountable on Instagram, and launch a media campaign against him, riding the waves of MeToo hysteria.
30. Text Message #1, #2 and #3
When Ashley Walters first posted her statement on February 1, 2021, she included three text messages, which Evan Rachel Wood reposted in her InstaStories. However, soon after, the text messages were removed by Walters, yet because people saved them they began to circulate without any context. I assume this is because the text messages make no sense, unless someone could interpret what we are seeing and what the context is.
The first text message seems to be from Manson to Walters and is dated January 6, 2011. It is time stamped at 7:24 PM and says that Evan is gone until tomorrow, then something about being hydrated that makes no sense, then something about the Le Montrose Suite Hotel in West Hollywood. If I were to interpret this text, it seems like Manson was asking Walters to make plans for him and Evan to meet at the Le Montrose Hotel the next day. The part about "hydrated" seems to either be missing a word or Walters knows what he is talking about that makes no sense to us.
The second text message seems again to be from Manson to Walters and is dated January 6, 2011. It is time stamped at 11:37 PM and is a photo of some part of the human body. People have given various interpretations of what we are exactly seeing, but no one can seem to figure it out. Some think it is a shoulder and upper back, some think it is a buttocks, and others give various other possibilities. Whatever it is, it seems to either have stretch marks or signs of binding. No other information comes from this text message.
The third text message seems to be from Manson to Walters and is dated January 7, 2011. It is time stamped at what looks like 4:01 PM, and shows Manson is frustrated with Evan. It appears that she was doing something, it wrapped and she was 45 minutes away with traffic. They seem to have had plans to meet, but Evan changed the plans, leaving Manson hanging. This is why in his frustration he says at the beginning, "I wanna smash Evan's head in."
Once again, we have no context for this, but a quick search on the internet reveals that Evan was on an HBO Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, California on Friday, January 7, 2011 for her miniseries Mildred Pierce (here and here are photos of the event). The only reason I can think of that Walters would include this text is for the violent language of smashing Evan's head in, which is something Manson has said in the past. In her documentary Phoenix Rising, Illma Gore reads this text to Evan, and Evan becomes emotional, as if it was the first time she was hearing it. However, I see nothing out of the ordinary in talking violently about someone you are frustrated with. People often get frustrated and say "I'm gonna kill him/her" or "I'm gonna beat the shit of him/her". Phrases like bashing in someone's skull are also commonly used in frustration (I personally overheard it recently by a teenage girl while talking with frustration about a friend of hers, though she said she was gonna kick her in the skull). This is common frustration talk that is not meant to be taken literally, and is usually addressed ironically about people that are close to us. In fact, in one interview Evan was asked in 2009 what she would do if her mother came along for a meeting with her idol Jodie Foster, and she said, "I would kill her." Kids often talk like this about their parents, with extreme language. In some cultures, parents likewise speak with extremely violent language about or to their children. To make a big deal out of it is ridiculous.