Game Of Thrones star Esme Bianco has hit out at a Los Angeles prosecutor over “mishandled” Marilyn Manson rape allegations.
In an interview with Rolling Stone yesterday (October 10), Bianco has described the last four years waiting for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office – led by District Attorney George Gascón – to make a charging decision over the allegations against Manson as “absolute agony”, claiming that she’s had to “hound” prosecutors for updates.
In 2021, Bianco went public with her accusations against Manson, claiming that the singer’s alleged abuse (occurring between 2009 and 2011) had made her “[feel] like a prisoner”. Months later, the actress formally filed a lawsuit against both Manson – real name Brian Warner – and his business, Marilyn Manson Records, Inc.
The lawsuit alleged sexual assault, physical abuse and human trafficking. Manson has denied all allegations, calling the claims “horrible distortions of reality”.
In January 2023, the lawsuit was dropped with both parties reaching a settlement out of court. The exact terms of the agreement are unknown.
However, around the same time her lawsuit was filed, Los Angeles police opened a criminal investigation into the claims made by several women, including Bianco and actor Evan Rachel Wood (Manson’s former partner), who have accused Manson of sexual abuse, grooming and manipulation. In September 2022, the case was submitted to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, who would then decide whether to press charges based on the evidence available.
Since then, however, Bianco claims she has not heard any progress made on the case. “What is the holdup?” she tells Rolling Stone.
“I’m doing all the things. It’s long overdue that Brian Warner sees the inside of a courtroom. I would be ecstatic if he saw the inside of a jail, because that’s where he deserves to be, but whatever is coming, we’ll survive it. We’ve survived it this far.”
“Once you’ve survived him, you could survive anything. If I have to walk through hell reliving it all over again, and it puts him behind bars, then that’s what I’ll do.”
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 09: Marilyn Manson attends the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison /2020 Getty Images)
She expresses that she simply longs for a decision to be made, stating that the resulting silence has left her in a “constant state of unbalance, just waiting to see which of two drastically different trajectories”.
However, Bianco acknowledges that a “thorough investigation” does take time: “I want them to do a thorough investigation because I know the truth, so I want them to do that. I want to make sure that if they bring charges against him, and if it goes to trial, that it’s an airtight case and they will win. The last thing I want is to see him go through a trial and get away with it.”
“But there has to be a point at which you call ‘time,’ and you make an informed decision. Nearly four years is far beyond a reasonable amount of time to keep multiple survivors of a serial perpetrator waiting,” she adds.
“I’ve handed over all of my evidence, warts and all. I’ve made it perfectly clear I’m going to be as cooperative as I can be. I’ve made myself available to them. I have the willingness to stick my neck out. Yet, we’re still waiting,” she concludes. “It’s just devastating.”
Esmé Bianco from ‘Game of Thrones’. CREDIT: Getty
The District Attorney’s Office wrote in an email statement to Rolling Stone that they “remain committed to making sure that [the case’s known victims] have been informed of our progress every step of the way.” In a separate public statement released on Wednesday (October 9), Gascón stated that prosecutors are assessing “new leads and additional evidence” from the investigation that has emerged in recent weeks.
Bianco’s initial 2021 lawsuit claimed that Manson violated Californian laws on sexual assault and battery as well as human trafficking. Bianco alleged that because her visa was awarded on the premise of her appearing in Manson’s film projects, he “was able to control” her “by threatening to withdraw support if she displeased him”.
In interviews given prior to that, Bianco claimed she was kept without sleep or food on the set of the music video for Manson’s song ‘I Want To Kill You Like They Do In The Movies’. She also alleged that Manson gave her cocaine, tied her up in cables and bit her without consent during sex. “I came and went at his pleasure,” Bianco told The Cut in February 2021. “Who I spoke to was completely controlled by him.”
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