Ryan Adams accused of sexual misconduct, abuse by multiple women
Ryan Adams has been accused of abuse—ranging from psychological manipulation to sexual misconduct—by Mandy Moore, Phoebe Bridgers and more.
The New York Times published a report on the allegations in which several women came forward to discuss their experiences with Adams.
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Mandy Moore, who was married to Adams from 2009 to 2016, went on record to share how Adams hindered her professional career and became overly controlling.
“His controlling behavior essentially did block my ability to make new connections in the industry during a very pivotal and potentially lucrative time—my entire mid-to-late 20s,” Moore tells Times.
“What you experience with him—the treatment, the destructive, manic sort of back and forth behavior—feels so exclusive. You feel like there’s no way other people have been treated like this.”
Musicians Phoebe Bridgers and Courtney Jaye also came forward, as well as two other musicians who wished to remain anonymous.
Bridgers and Jaye share similar encounters with Adams, stating that as their relationships with him progressed, his behavior “turned obsessive and emotionally abusive.”
According to Bridgers, Adams threatened to withhold the release of her music after she broke up with him. She also accuses Adam of exposing himself to her in 2017, prior to a concert.
Megan Butterworth, Adams’s ex-fiancée, states that during their relationship he isolated her socially and professionally. She describes him as rageful, and although she says he never hit her, he did smash things and became physically intimidating.
Butterworth left Adam in 2018, and in turn, he flooded her phone with hundreds of texts, calls, and emails that ranged from emotional please to threats of suicide and lawsuits.
The report also includes an interview with the now 20-year-old Ava, who was only 14 at the time Adam began corresponding with her.
The Times review all 3,217 text messages that took place between the two over a nine-month period when Ava was 15 and 16 years old.
Conversations turned graphic and sexual, with Adam questioning Ava repeatedly about her age stating, “I would get in trouble if someone knew we talked like this.”
“I never see pics of you anymore,” Adams wrote in November of 2014. “You were blowing my mind.”
Days later he added, “If people knew they would say I was like R Kelley lol.”
Minutes later, the conversation turned sexual.
“I just want you to touch your nipple,” he texted. “And tell me that your mom is not gonna kill me if she finds out we even text.”
Adam’s lawyer, Andrew B. Brettler, claims his client does not recall such interactions with Ava.
“Mr. Adams unequivocally denies that he ever engaged in inappropriate online sexual communications with someone he knew was underage,” Brettler says.
Brettler says Adams denies these “extremely serious and outlandish accusations” referring to the allegations as “grousing by disgruntled individuals”.
Through his lawyer, Adam states that Moore’s recollection of their time together is “completely inconsistent with his view of the relationship” and that he was supportive of her “well-deserved professional success.”
While Adams continued to dispute the accusations, he also took to Twitter shortly after the report was published online.
I am not a perfect man and I have made many mistakes. To anyone I have ever hurt, however unintentionally, I apologize deeply and unreservedly.
— Ryan Adams (@TheRyanAdams) February 13, 2019
But the picture that this article paints is upsettingly inaccurate. Some of its details are misrepresented; some are exaggerated; some are outright false. I would never have inappropriate interactions with someone I thought was underage. Period.
— Ryan Adams (@TheRyanAdams) February 13, 2019
As someone who has always tried to spread joy through my music and my life, hearing that some people believe I caused them pain saddens me greatly. I am resolved to work to be the best man I can be. And I wish everyone compassion, understanding and healing.
— Ryan Adams (@TheRyanAdams) February 13, 2019
In a since-deleted Instagram post, Adams share a photo of the Times logo with the caption, “Fuck you.”
He followed-up the post with a since-deleted tweet, tagging the NY Times.
“Happy Vanetines day @nytimes. I know you got lawyers But do you have the truth on your side. No. I do. And you have run out of friends. My folks are NOT your friends. Run your smear piece. But the leagal [sp] eagles see you. Rats. I’m fucking taking you down. Let’s learn I bait.”
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