Evan Rachel wood has been talking for a couple of years about having been allegedly horribly abused by an ex. She spoke before panels and worked hard to try to reform domestic abuse laws.

Today, she came forward with the name of her alleged abuser: Marilyn Manson. The two got together when Wood was in her teens and MM was in his thirties.

There are a lot of people who immediately believe Wood because of her history of talking about this alleged abuse, and because Manson is just so weird. Also because he wrote in his autobiography that he used to be an abusive piece of shit and that he used to imagine crushing her skull with a sledgehammer. And for saying that the song “I Want to Kill You Like They Do in The Movies” was inspired by one of their breakups.

On top of that, four other women have stepped forward with similar accusations of their own against MM.

All of that, along with Wood’s disturbing allegations have a lot of people willing to crucify MM on the nearest telephone pole.

What does that have to do with Amber Heard or Aquaman 2? At first glance, nothing. But if we take a closer look, the associations abound.

First, ERW is “close” friends with Heard. Wood has come out in support of Heard’s allegations against Johnny Depp since Heard first started to allege them – which is just about the time that Wood started talking about being a victim of domestic abuse. Coincidence number one.

Also, it’s a pretty well-known fact that MM is (or was) best of buddies with Johnny Depp. The two of them haven’t been seen together in about a year, but they have a long history of being besties. Whether or not that’s still the case isn’t really known.

It’s also a fact that as far as I know, none of the women accusing MM ever called the police or filed any reports. The only word we have is in the media and on social media. I’m not saying that makes them liars, far from it. A lot of victims never report their abuse. Johnny Depp didn’t call the police. He relied upon his own private security to protect him.

All I’m saying is that the allegations against MM are pretty severe, with women saying they’ve been violently raped, had their lives threatened, were locked in closets, were beaten, even whipped, and more. With allegations so severe, it’s easy to wonder why the police weren’t called, at least by one of them. It would certainly make the allegations easier to swallow.

I’m also not saying MM didn’t do it. His own words in his autobiography don’t bode well for him, certainly.

What I’m saying is that we need to wait and see some proof, one way or the other. Until that happens, all we have is a she-say/he-say situation.

It could come down in a number of ways. MM could be the heartless, sadistic monster his self-proclaimed victims say he is, and he should be locked up for life.

Or it could come down that the girls are in cahoots. Wood and Heard, I mean. The two of them, friends, have been alleging abuse against MM and Johnny Depp for roughly the same amount of time, and now would be a great time to come forward with MM’s name, what with the legalities between Heard and Johnny Depp shaping up the way they are. It’s not looking too good for Heard in the Fairfax, VA defamation case Johnny has leveled against her. So what better time to cut the legs out from under Johnny’s bff with allegations of even more monstrous abuse?

Or the two cases could have nothing whatsoever to do with each other but coincidence.

Right now, it’s too soon to call.

One thing that is a fact is that Amber Heard has made it more difficult for victims of either gender to come forward with their stories of abuse thanks to her lies about being abused. Her sh*tstorm of mainstream media stories and crusade through the #MeToo movement have made it nigh impossible for anybody to come forward without enduring intense scrutiny. Gone are the days when we could #BelieveAllWomen. Heard’s completely ruined that.

So yeah. While there is a faction ready to believe her outright, ERW is being looked at with some skepticism by a large contingency.

The only real truth here is that time will have to tell the truth of what’s going on. My suggestion is to neither believe nor deny these allegations against MM until there’s some shred of proof to back them up, or to prove that they’re false.

That’s what happened with Johnny Depp. He was accused of domestic abuse and a lot of people believed it. Then proof came out that those allegations were false.

That’s what I’m saying we should do here. Wait for some proof. Reserve judgement until we know definitively, one way or the other. The truth always outs, and it will in this case, too.

What do you think? Hang the dude’s reputation on her word? Or wait and see?