Evan Rachel Wood on past romance with Marilyn Manson: 'People were pretty mean'

Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Evan Rachel Wood, now 26, was 19 years old when she started dating 36-year-old goth rocker Marilyn Manson, an on-again, off-again relationship she now attributes to youthful rebellion. But she was shocked by public criticism of their romance.

“People were pretty mean,” Wood, who stars in the comedy-action flick Charlie Countryman, told The Daily Beast on Saturday. “At the time I hadn’t yet been exposed to that kind of cruelty from strangers.”

“If people were wondering why I was acting so-called crazy or like a teenager, it’s because I was,” she said. “People go through phases. People make mistakes. People go through life and don’t get it right every time.”

Manson proposed to Wood onstage in Paris in 2010, though they eventually called off their engagement. Wood got back together with ex boyfriend Jamie Bell, the adorable dancing boy from Billy Elliot, and she gave birth to their son last July.