A sexual assault lawsuit against Marilyn Manson has been revived on appeal. Originally filed by the musician’s former assistant Ashley Walters in 2021, it was dismissed last year after a court ruled that she had waited too long to launch legal action.
Walters claims that she was subjected to “sexual exploitation, manipulation and psychological abuse” by Manson while working for him in 2010 and 2011. A lower court threw out the case, saying that the statute of limitations meant that it should have been filed within two years of the alleged abuse.
However, she successfully argued this week that she had repressed her memories of what happened until 2020 and that her legal action should be allowed under a ‘delayed discovery rule’.
“Until she received diagnosis and treatment, Walters [says she] was unable to remember the repressed events, and once she did recall them, she was unable to immediately identify these events as abuse”, the appeals court wrote in its ruling. “These allegations of suppressed memories and psychological blocking are sufficient to withstand [dismissal]”.
The ruling means that the case can now proceed to trial. Walters’ legal action is one of several sexual abuse lawsuits filed against Manson, two of which he has since settled and one of which was withdrawn by the accuser.
He denies all the claims that have been made against him, arguing that all of the allegations have been orchestrated by his former partner Evan Rachel Wood. He is suing her for defamation.
