In recent weeks, numerous women have revealed that they’ve been abused by shock rocker Marilyn Manson.
The accounts of emotional, physical, and sexual atrocities began when actress Evan Rachel Wood came forward with appalling accusations detailing Manson’s behavior during their relationship, which began when she was 18, and he was 36.
In the week that followed, four more women alleged that they’d been abused by Manson.
Not surprisingly, the list of victims continues to grow.
Several more women who dated or had sexual encounters with Manson have now come forward to accuse the 52-year-old of all manner of misconduct.
Last week, former adult film star Jenna Jameson revealed that Manson threatened to burn her alive during their brief time together in 1997.
Now, in a courageous interview with The Cut, Game of Thrones actress Esme Bianco has detailed the ways in which Manson abused and exploited her.
Like Wood, Bianco — who played Ros on the acclaimed HBO series — revealed several years ago that she has been a victim of abuse.
At the time, she was not ready to reveal the name of her abuser, but she says she felt compelled to tell her tale upon learning that other Manson victims were doing the same.
“It’s really surreal,” she tells the magazine.
“He’s told the world time and time again, ‘This is who I am., He hid in plain sight,” Esme says, referring to Manson’s tendency to publicly boast about his most shocking behavior.
Bianco says she met Manson through his then-wife, Dita Von Teese, back in the early 2000s.
A lifelong fan of Manson’s music, Esme jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with him on a music video.
In 2009, she traveled from London to Los Angeles for the shoot, and she was dismayed and disillusioned by the reality of working for her teenage hero.
According to her comments to The Cut, Bianco “spent the next three days in lingerie, barely sleeping or eating, with Manson serving up cocaine rather than food.”
Bianco was punched and whipped on camera, and she says that after she was finally allowed to leave “emailed Bianco a picture of her back covered in welts with a note reading, ‘bringing sexy back.'”
When Bianco returned to London, she was hesitant to talk with friends about the abuse she had endured.
Her roommate, who had once managed a BDSM nightclub, assured her that despite Bianco’s efforts to try and justify Manson’s behavior, physical injuries are not a part of any professional, fetish-themed
Manson eventually paid for her to return to LA, and he secured her a work visa by telling the authorities that she would be appearing in a horror film he was directing.
While the move was never produced, that description is sadly appropriate for the following months of Bianco’s life.
She and Manson entered a romantic relationship that was abusive in nature from the very beginning.
“I was often violently shaken awake should I go to sleep without permission,” she later revealed.
“I basically felt like a prisoner,” Bianco tells The Cut.
“I came and went at his pleasure. Who I spoke to was completely controlled by him. I called my family hiding in the closet.”
As is the case with his other relationships, Manson’s abuse was allegedly fueled by heavy drug use.
“He was doing lots of drugs and drinking a lot,” says an anonymous former member of Manson’s inner circle.
“You never knew if it would be a mellow night or him up for two days straight.”
Bianco says that to her great embarrassment, when the Game of Thrones pilot aired, Manson would play her sex scene on a projector for visiting guests.
“That’s my girlfriend, she’s a whore. Look, her t-ts are out,” he reportedly remarked.
Manson, of course, has declined to respond publicly to these allegations.
But with any luck, he’ll soon be telling his side of the story to a judge.