A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit against Marilyn Manson on Wednesday (May 25) filed by his former personal assistant. The documents, received by Billboard, cite the statute of limitations as the reason for dismissal, as the incidents occurred in 2010 and 2011.
The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, prohibiting plaintiff Ashley Walters from refiling the charges.
Walters originally filed her lawsuit against Manson (real name Brian Warner) in May 2021, alleging sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. She also named his label, Marilyn Manson Records Inc., as a co-defendant. Manson has since denied all claims of sexual abuse.
In March, Walters filed an amended lawsuit explaining that she repressed memories of Manson’s alleged abuse until recently and that she felt threatened by Manson’s lawyers for appearing in his ex-fiancée Evan Rachel Wood’s recently released Phoenix Rising documentary, according to Rolling Stone.
Walters was an aspiring photographer in 2010 when she first met Manson, who had complimented her work on social media, according to the suit. According to published reports, Walters was hired as Manson’s PA in August 2010 and claims she was subjected to a toxic working environment, in which she faced aggression, violence, threats and more before her departure the following year, which she details in the suit. Walters also claimed Manson made her work for 48 hours straight, and he invited his friends to sexually assault her.
Walters’ accusations came amid a string of more than a dozen accusers who came forward after Wood accused her former fiancé of grooming and sexual abuse on Twitter in February 2021. Marilyn Manson is still facing lawsuits from three women: Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithine and a Jane Doe. All three lawsuits are still pending.
