Evan Rachel Wood has given an in-depth interview about what she has learned about narcissism following her high-profile relationship with Marilyn Manson.

Actor and singer Wood alleged in 2021 that she was “groomed” as a teenager by Manson, before he “horrifically abused’ and “brainwashed” her.

Manson – real name Brian Warner – has always denied the allegations and in 2022 he sued Wood for defamation in the wake of her documentary Phoenix Rising in which she described the alleged abuse.

Manson’s lawsuit alleged that Wood and associate Illma Gore hacked into Manson’s computers and social media accounts, manufactured evidence that he was emailing illicit pornography, impersonated an FBI agent, provided checklists of alleged crimes to prospective accusers, and knowingly made false statements and defamatory claims.

He later dropped that suit and agreed to pay Wood’s legal fees.

In January of this year, a Los Angeles judge reinstated a lawsuit filed against Manson by his former assistant Ashley Walters. It had previously been dismissed as it exceeded the maximum time period for legal proceedings to be initiated, but a change in the law allowed the case to be revived and it is ongoing.

In a new interview with Andrew Gold, which can be viewed in full below, Wood is asked about her previous assertion that she believed Manson had “studied” manipulation.

Asked what led her to believe this, Wood says: “If you take a wander in his library … he had a lot of books on cults and a lot of books on mind control and manipulation. He also studied Scientology and things like that as well.

“Cults have different names and different styles but ultimately they’re the same tactics. I think he was very, very well-versed in these tactics.

“He also made it very clear that he would retaliate against anybody that went against him or, in his words ‘betrayed’ him in any way. And a betrayal would be to expose him. I think he was also very well-versed on what to do if that ever happened and how he would retaliate.

Asked if she believed Manson to be a “psychopathic narcissist, she adds: “I think so, yeah. I think there was a time when I wanted to believe that there were maybe still good times and that we had just had a few bad times. But the more I started to read the stories that were popping up online, the more people that contacted me and told me their stories, there was just no way to think otherwise.”

In the wake of the alleged ordeal, Wood has sought trauma therapy and has learned a lot about how to recognise narcissistic traits in people, including the slipping of the mask.

On Manson, she says: “Really the thing that scared me the most was when I saw the mask go on. That’s when I really knew.

“He was about to go do an interview and he was just on a tirade. One of, I call them his narcissistic rants, of just berating everybody. Whenever he had to get ready for some sort of event or interview when he had to put his persona, makeup and everything on – it was guaranteed that it was going to be a bad night for everybody.

“I locked myself in the bathroom. He was going off and he would wreck things. He would wreck the house and he would yell at people. I came out right before he was about to go on and he was just … this darkness, these dark eyes. And you saw him slip into the Marilyn Manson persona and then he went out and he was doing that calm, well-spoken Marilyn Manson thing.

“And that’s when I realised. That’s when you go back and you think about every interview that he’s done in that persona. You think ‘Oh my God’. What was going on behind the scenes? Was it ever real? Because I just saw you put that face on and I know that’s not you. I know that face only goes on when the cameras are rolling or when you’re manipulating somebody.

“It blew my mind and I didn’t know what to call that until I was learning about narcissism and psychopathy and they talk about the mask and when you see the mask slip. That’s exactly what it felt like.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Wood discusses The Phoenix Act which she co-authored with California Senator Susan Rubio to extend the statute of limitations for domestic violence crimes.

If any video sums up Van Halen‘s 1980s, it’s Hot For Teacher. Carefree and ribald, it features a socially awkward schoolboy (Waldo) and underdressed two models: Miss Canada runner-up Donna Rupert and former Playboy Playmate of the Year Lillian Müller. It’s not the kind of video anyone would commission today, but as a time capsule it’s alive with the spirit of the age.

Starring along side Waldo, the models and the band were four young actors employed to play the members of Van Halen as children. Amongst them was Van Halen nut Yano Anaya.

How did you end up playing a junior version of Michael Anthony in the Hot For Teacher video?

Yano Anaya: I was thirteen years old, and Van Halen was one of my favourite bands at the time. I’d done some commercials and a movie, A Christmas Story, before that, so when I got a message from my manager on the answering machine that I had an audition to play the part for Michael Anthony Jr in an upcoming Van Halen video, I swear to god I was so excited. In my mind I was thinking: “Holy crap, I look just like Michael Anthony – this is my job.”

Did you know any of the other kids before you met them on the shoot?

No. I went to an audition in Hollywood, then I got a callback two days later, then two days after that I got the call that I actually got the job. I didn’t meet anybody else until I got to the location, which was at a high school [John Marshall High School] in Los Feliz. The school wasn’t operating, because they used it so much in movies and commercials.

What do you remember about the day of the shoot?

The shoot took four days. I got there on the first day at nine-thirty in the morning, and I told my mom: “I need to go meet the band, that is my priority.” So I found their trailer and knocked on the door. Alex Van Halen answered, and he looked at me and went: ‘What’s up, kid?’ And I went: “I’m part of the cast, I’m playing Michael Anthony Jr. I just wanted to see if I could hang out with you guys.” And he went: “Come on in.” I was like: “Yeeeeahhhh!”

You were a thirteen-year-old kid. Were they on their best behaviour when you were with them?

Well, their best behaviour for Van Halen. Cos there was no filter. Alex was like: “Hey, man, why don’t you go to the back and grab us a couple of beers?” So I walked back there, and Dave Lee Roth was there. He looked at me and went: “Who the fuck are you? Why is there a kid in our trailer?” And Alex was like: “Don’t worry about it, man, he’s part of the cast, he’s hanging out with us.”

They had an ice chest in the back with nothing but Coke and Schlitz Malt Liquor beer. So I grabbed two of them and went up the front, and Alex challenged me to a shotgun. I’m like: “I’m thirteen years old, it’s ten-twenty in the morning, and I’m a drinking a Schlitz beer with Alex Van Halen.” I drank that one beer, and I was so drunk.

What was the real Michael Anthony like?

He was very cool. He was just chilled. Eddie was kind of quiet as well. And I don’t think Dave was into hanging out with some kid. But Alex was the one. He wanted to know who I was, where I was from.

What’s your favourite memory of actually shooting the video?

The thing that stuck with me the most was the part where the teacher was dancing on the table and all the kids were looking at her legs. The director was shouting: “Grab her legs!” I looked at my mom: “Should I actually do that? Is that okay?” And my mom was like: “Do your job, son.” I was so embarrassed to do that.

Did you get to spend much time with Eddie?

Yeah. I grew the balls to ask him to play the intro to Running With The Devil, which was my favourite song. He took me to the back of the trailer, pulled out a tiny little amp, pulled out his guitar, and literally played the whole thing for me, in person, by myself, just for me. That experience was epic.