Esme Bianco, the ex-girlfriend of Marilyn Manson, who is suing the singer on charges including sexual assault and human trafficking, has escalated her allegations against the singer, claiming he interfered with her involvement in a planned tour video for Deftones.
According to a filing Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Bianco participated in a video shoot “to be used as part of the set design for the band’s current tour.” The migration began this month and is expected to last through July. “In exchange for providing her images,” the legal filing reads, “Ms. Bianco anticipated an economic benefit from the significant public exposure from the band’s global tour and the opportunity to continue working with the much-sought-after creative director who was overseeing the project.”
Bianco’s filing alleges that Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, learned of her involvement in the project and contacted the band to “confront them about Deftones’ decision to work with Ms. Bianco.”
Bianco claims to Rolling Stone that she heard Warner “went out of his head and had a complete nervous breakdown because I was working with Deftones and … they decided to cut my footage.”
The British actress, who played Ros on Game of Thrones, was one of more than a dozen women to speak out against the shock rocker last year. In February 2021, she detailed the alleged abuse she suffered during her relationship with Warner when they were a couple in 2011, according to The Cut.
In April 2021, Bianco sued Warner, alleging in her lawsuit that Warner “used drugs, violence, and threats of violence on multiple occasions to compel Ms. Bianco to engage in sexual activity.” Her lawsuit went on to allege that Warner “committed sexual acts” with Bianco when she was unconscious or unable to consent. (According to a statement from his attorney last year, Warner “vehemently denies all allegations of sexual assault or abuse by anyone.” Warner has previously dismissed “every single” allegation made by Bianco as “untrue and baseless,” alleging in court that the “fabricated Abuse reports” against him “are part of a coordinated attack by former partners and associates of Mr. Warner who have weaponized the otherwise mundane details of his personal life and their consensual relationships”).
In the new filing, Bianco alleges that Warner — who remains under active investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for allegations of domestic violence between 2009 and 2011 but did not face criminal charges — “uses his power and influence in the entertainment industry to do so.” prevent Ms. Bianco from continuing to work with Deftones.” (A spokesman for LASD did not respond to a request for comment.) “Defendants Warner’s actions were intended to result in the breach of Deftones’ contract with Ms. Bianco when they refused to use their images,” she claims in her filing.
The video was not used on the group’s tour. Bianco alleges the alleged breach resulted in “damage to reputation” and “loss of future commercial opportunity” at Deftones, and according to the filing, Warner “committed an independent unlawful act aimed at disrupting the relationship between Bianco and the group.”
Bianco tells Rolling Stone that she thinks “the consensus was that it was easier to cut me than deal with Brian… Someone inside [Deftones’ camp] decided to fire me because Brian called her.”
Neither Deftones as a whole nor individuals associated with the group, which includes former Marilyn Manson bassist Fred Sablan as a touring member, have been named as defendants in the lawsuit. (A representative for the band and their management, Velvet Hammer, declined to comment. Warner’s rep and attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
In the new filing, her attorney argued that Warner’s alleged interference was “a more recent continuation” of his efforts to “Ms. silence Bianco through threats, intimidation and coercion”.
“By continuing to threaten my career prospects, Warner proves once again that he will stop at nothing to silence his victims, even in the midst of criminal investigations and civil litigation,” Bianco told Rolling Stone. “The complicity of those enabling these intimidation tactics shows why survivors are so reluctant to come forward. If those with the power to stand up to abusers choose not to, the survivors will be left alone.”
“This is further evidence of Mr. Warner’s continued attempts to intimidate Ms. Bianco into silence,” added Jay Ellwanger, the attorney representing Bianco and Ashley Morgan Smithline, who is also suing Warner for sexual assault and human trafficking, among other charges . “The threats and coercion must stop and we hope today’s filing will help inform Mr. Warner that his actions will have consequences.”
As detailed in Rolling Stone’s investigation of the rocker last November, Bianco claims Warner began to bombard her with love bombs shortly after they met. Their relationship included a nightmarish pattern of drugs, constant surveillance, physical abuse and sexual assault, according to Bianco’s lawsuit.
She later became a prominent advocate for sexual assault survivors, working with Evan Rachel Wood to create the Phoenix Act, which extends the statute of limitations for domestic violence survivors to bring charges against their abusers.
“When it comes to the criminal justice system, survivors have virtually no control over the process,” Bianco said. “I intend to go any route I have because that’s how I take my agency back. I get up and I’m like, ‘No, you can’t just walk away from it.’”
Esmé Bianco’s amended complaint against Brian Warner aka Marilyn Manson