Ryan Adams in 2016.
By Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.
In an investigation published Wednesday afternoon, The New York Times reported on allegations leveled against singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, including claims of emotional abuse and threatening behavior toward women. The Times spoke with seven women, including one who alleges that Adams exposed himself to her when she was a teen, and his ex-wife, singer and This Is Us star Mandy Moore. Adams, who has won seven Grammys, is best known for his career as a country-rock solo artist, though a cover album of Taylor Swift’s 1989 brought him increased name recognition in 2015.
The Times based its report in part on thousands of text messages that Adams allegedly sent to a woman, whom the Times identified as “Ava,” when she was 15 and 16. The now 20-year-old said that Adams was corresponding online with her about her burgeoning music career when their conversation turned to graphic text messages and eventually sexually explicit video calls. The two never met in person, the report said. Through his lawyer, Andrew Brettler, Adams disputed the event to the Times. “Mr. Adams unequivocally denies that he ever engaged in inappropriate online sexual communications with someone he knew was underage,” he said.
Adams was married to Moore from 2009 to 2016, though the two separated in early 2015. She spoke with reporters Joe Coscarelli and Melena Ryzik about her experiences with Adams, including what she called controlling behavior, for the Times’s story. “He would always tell me, ‘You’re not a real musician, because you don’t play an instrument,’” she said. In October, after Adams tweeted that he was too high on painkillers to remember their wedding, People reported that friends of Moore said that he “constantly belittled” her during their marriage. Through his lawyer, Adams told the Times that Moore’s depiction of the marriage was “completely inconsistent with his view of the relationship.”
Other former partners and acquaintances provided similar accounts of working with Adams. The women, including singer Phoebe Bridgers, said that he initially approached them with interest in helping their careers, before pursuing romantic relationships. Some said Adams attempted to hurt their careers after they refused his advances or ended their relationships. (Adams’s lawyer disputed the events in question, and suggested that some of the women have ulterior motives for coming forward.) One woman, Courtney Jaye, said that her experience with Adams made her want to leave music altogether.
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