Marilyn Manson is a musician, actor, and public figure who has been active since the late 80s. Though not as popular today, Manson once dominated the music charts.
Here are 42 weird facts about Marilyn Manson.
Marilyn Manson Facts
1. Normal Name
Marilyn Manson was born Brian Warner. He is of German and English ancestry, but grew up in the American Midwest. His mom is Episcopalian and his dad is Catholic.
2. Like Father
Manson attended Christian heritage school until the 10th grade. This was the kind of school that told you what not to listen to. Take a wild guess what music Manson listened to?
3. Musical Manson
When he was still known to the world as Brian Warner, Marilyn Manson was pursuing a career as a music journalist. He majored in journalism at Broward College and also wrote for a local Florida lifestyle magazine called The 25th Parallel.
4. Inquisitive Manson
Manson also got to interview many famous rock stars before becoming one himself. One such rock star is Trent Reznor, who would later go on to produce to of Manson's albums, and sign Manson to his Nothing Records.
5. Too Long
In 1989, Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids was formed. They recorded their first demo in 1990, and started gaining a following by 1992 for their highly visual shows featuring shocking imagery and bizarre costumes. The band shortly thereafter dropped The Spooky Kids and continued as just Marilyn Manson.
6. Namesake
Marilyn Manson and his original band mates got their names by mashing up the first name of an iconic female sex symbol and an iconic serial killer. For Manson, it's a mash up of Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson. On the flip side, Charles Monroe sounds very distinguished.
7. Will You?
Manson has been engaged three times; once to actor Evan Rachel Wood, once to actor Rose McGowan, and once to burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese. He only married Dita, but they divorced shortly after.
8. Shooting Star
Manson’s music was accused of influencing of the tragic Columbine school shooting. Manson even appeared in the documentary Bowling for Columbine, discussing at length with Michael Moore how he did not support the shooters, or the idea that his music influences people to commit acts of violence.
9. Son Of A…
Manson has also acted, appearing in several shows like Eastbound & Down, Californication, and he had a recurring role in Sons Of Anarchy as Ron Tully. He said the most challenging part of the role was growing a goatee.
10. Gimme Grammy
Although Manson has been nominated for Grammys multiple times, the recording artist hasn’t ever won any.
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11. Platinumbers Game
Though he’s never won any Grammys, Manson has had two albums go platinum: Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals.
12. Collector
Manson collects metal lunchboxes from the 40’s and 50’s. He also collects outdated medical prosthetics and other old-timey medical memorabilia.
13. Obscene
Manson’s Mechanical Animals depicted Manson wearing an androgynous body suit, and Walmart decided that the cover was too obscene for its shelves. Two years later, Walmart would stock Manson’s next album Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death) because it was “commercially viable” and “in the top ten charts.” The cover art was also surprisingly more tame, so that probably helped.
14. Wonky For Wonka
Manson is a huge fan of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, and even wanted to play Willy in the remake of the film. He eventually lost the role to his good friend Johnny Depp.
15. Getting Deep With Depp
Manson is really close with Johnny, so much so that they have matching back tattoos. Depp has even said that he used Manson as inspiration for the role of Willy Wonka in the remake. Luckily, this didn’t affect their friendship.
16. Heart The Kart
Manson is a huge fan of the franchise. He’s also had his music in many video games. No word on who his main character is for Mario Kart.
17. Spirited
Manson is a huge fan of the alcoholic drink Absinthe. So much so that he made his own brand of the drink called Mansinthe, and won a gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2008.
18. Heartfelt
Manson was born with a condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, which results in a rapid heart rate. The condition is due to an extra, abnormal electrical pathway in his heart.
19. Parents Just Don’t Understand
Manson’s mom always called him by his birth name, Brian, while his dad would refer to him as simply Manson.
20. Superscar
In his memoir, The Long Road Out Of Hell, Manson mentions that his body is covered in scars accrued from years of self-inflicted cuts during shows. Hopefully, the memoir helped heal some of those scars.
21. Birthday Suit
In 1999, Honcho magazine published a nude photoshoot of Manson as a birthday tribute to the singer. The photos were taken five years prior, before Manson had become a big star.
22. Caulkinfluence
Home Alone star Macaulay Caulkin was actually the first person to ever bring Manson a cigarette. It happened when they were filming Party Monster, and a scene called for Manson’s character to smoke a cigarette. Macaulay was the one to give him his first pack, Virginia Slims.
23. F-Word
Manson once wrote the F-word across his face to keep the paparazzi away, since they can’t sell any pictures that are deemed profane.
24. Eye Spy
Manson wears two different color contact lenses in both eyes, each with a different sized pupil. Manson does this as a tribute to legendary British musician David Bowie, who suffered from anisocoria, a condition where one pupil is permanently dilated; which also creates the illusion that both eyes are different colors.
25. Charity Case
Manson supports various charities like Music for Life and Little Kids Rock. He even worked with the Make-A-Wish foundation, and had a terminally ill fan come to the studio and lay down backing vocals for a track Manson was working on.
26. Artist
Manson started painting in 1999, and would paint five-minute concepts that he sold to drug-dealers. He even started an art movement called Celebration Corporation.
27. Bedeviled
Manson is a fan of Anton Lavey, who founded the Church Of Satan. Manson is also a fan of Aleister Crowley who has been described as the “highest profile Satanist ever.”
28. Make Me
While in Cologne, Germany for the opening night of his art exhibition, Manson tried to visit the Cologne Cathedral, but was denied entry because of his makeup.
29. Too Busy To Massacre
In 2002, Manson was hired to write and record the score for the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but never got around to it as he was too busy working on his own album The Golden Age Of Grotesque.
30. Gamify
Manson not only loves playing video games, he even voices characters in video games sometimes. He voiced the alien Edgar in 2005’s Area 51 and his likeness was used for MTV’s Celebrity Death Match.
31. Wondering Years
A strange urban legend surrounding Manson is that he played Paul in The Wonder Years. This is definitely not true, but their childhood photos do look very similar.
32. Political Ties
Manson is related to conservative political commentator, former CNN host and one-time Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. They are fourth cousins, twiced removed.
33. Still Got It
After Manson was used as a scapegoat for the Columbine shootings, he wrote an article called “Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?” in which he denounced how society immortalizes mass killers through the media.
34. Manson Family
Manson once did a photo shoot with famous photographer Terry Richardson, where both he and his father wore the iconic singer’s trademark makeup. Hilarity ensued.
35. O’Realy?
Manson was a guest on Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor, back when it was still on the air. During the interview, O’Reilly repeatedly attacked Manson with false allegations, but Manson remained composed and his answers stayed thoughtful. At one point, Manson stated “It’s better to use a curse word than to hurt somebody else, I find.”
36. Heartfelt Pt 2.
After the daughter of Michael Jackson, Paris Jackson tried to commit suicide, Manson reached out to her, saying “I hope you feel better. You will be on my guest list anytime you want.” Aww, Mansy…
37. Strange
Manson’s song “Killing Strangers” was inspired by Manson’s father, who was a member of the Air Force.
38. Who?
Manson is almost unrecognizable without his trademark makeup. He uses Christian Dior foundation, Aquacolor for the blue, and a mixture for the black.
39. The Man, The Myth
Over the years, there have been a few myths surrounding Manson. The two biggest ones were that he injected heroin into his eye, which resulted in the dilated pupil in one eye. Another is that he had several ribs removed in order to perform oral sex on himself. Both are false.
40. Animal Lover
Rumors circulated that Manson once threw a live puppy into a jacked up crowd at one of his shows, who then proceeded to rip the puppy to pieces. Another rumor surrounding the singer is that he once bit the head off of a live chicken on stage. While neither story is true, in 1995, there was a live chicken on stage, and it did get thrown into the crowd. The chicken lived, and no one bit it. Manson also has three dogs whom he loves very much.
41. Shocking
During one of his early concerts, Manson hired a pregnant looking actress to iron out the wrinkles on a Nazi flag on stage. She then sat on the ironing board and pretended to perform an abortion on herself. If you want to shock people, Nazis and abortion will do it.
42. Fire Safety
Manson has said that he only has sex in the dark, and with his underwear around his ankles because he has a phobia of his house catching fire. We wouldn’t want to be caught outside our burning home buck naked either.