There are some things that happened in every secondary school in the early 2000s.
First off, we all drew that weird S. Something that apparently has been a thing for decades (and is apparently known as a ‘Stussy’…)
Secondly, we all thought that Marilyn Manson had his lower ribs removed so that he could bend over further and… well, give himself a good time…
This rumour has been bandied about for probably two decades or more, but is there any truth to it?
How did it spread quite so far?
And can you actually do that?
Most articles online just seem to say: ‘This was a rumour we all told at school and isn’t that funny?’
But lets see if we can dig a bit deeper and actually get to the bottom of this urban legend.
The origins
It is obviously hard to determine the origins of a rumour that isn’t based on reality. Someone made it up and started telling people, and then it spread from there. Finding out exactly WHO started it and when is basically impossible.
But it has been a rumour for a very long time. So I did some research to see if I could work out just HOW old the rumour is.
As far as I could find out, the earliest time the rumour was mentioned online was in a Rolling Stone article about Manson from 1997.
Weirdly, the article opens talking about another infamous rumour:
“Be careful when you gossip: a little rumor can go a long way. Especially when the subject is Marilyn Manson.”
Neil Strauss, Marilyn Manson: Sympathy for the Devil
Here he is talking about a rumour that Marilyn Manson was going to kill himself on stage on Halloween.
He’s the not first person to have this rumour about them, as G. G. Allin also promised to kill himself on stage on Halloween. Except he ended up being in prison instead.
It’s just the typical rumour of a shock artist doing the most shocking thing on the most atmospheric day for it.
Further down the article the author, Kelly Henderson, talks dismissively of Mansons more obsessed fans.
“The rumor-hungry fans who see him as a living demon who’s removed his own ribs and testicles know just as little about Manson as the detractors who dismiss him as a Halloween-costumed shock rocker riding on Trent Reznor’s coattails”
Neil Strauss, Marilyn Manson: Sympathy for the Devil
She doesn’t specify WHY Manson removed him ribs in the rumour, and instead adds to the story with another rumour about him removing his testicles too!
The removing testicles seems to have been a reference to Manson’s song ‘Cryptorchid’. The term Cryptochdism is the medical abnormality of a male being born without one or both of their testicles.
In the song Manson says the line “I wish I had my balls”, which obviously led to this particular myth.
So there we go: one rumour cleared up.
Its just not the rumour that I was supposed to be investigating!
Also in my research I found a reference to the rib removal urban legend from 2005 on the most 2005 web page I could ever imagine.
We now know that the rumour existed 8 years before this website, but honestly, I found this website and just wanted to share it.
Telephone
Something that piqued my interest when researching this urban legend was a paragraph in the wikipedia page about his Portrait of an American Family tour.
On December 27th, 1994, in Jacksonville Florida, on the very first date on the Portrait of an American Family tour, Marilyn Manson was arrested after the concert.
The charge?
Breaking the Adult Entertainment Code by allegedly wearing and simulating masturbating a strap-on dildo.
Now, is it just me that can imagine people hearing this story, maybe changing the details with every retelling, like a particularly sordid game of Telephone, and ending up with the rumour?
- Original – “Did you hear? Marilyn Manson was arrested for jacking off a strap-on dildo during his set.”
- Retelling version 1 – “Apparently Marilyn Manson was arrested for doing sex acts on stage, he was like jerking off and stuff.”
- *Many retellings and changing details of the story*
- Retelling version 40: “Whoa, Marilyn Manson was sucking himself off on stage! I hear he had his ribs removed to do it!”
I have no proof for this, but that particular incident happened just a bit before the first recorded mention of the rumour, and that would give it time to have become retold and warped.
As I say, it’s not concrete, but I think its a valid theory as to how the rumour started.
So, the next question…
Why did it spread so far?
The weirdest part of this myth is that it did so well: everyone heard this at school and it went on for YEARS.
It probably didn’t help that Marilyn Manon wasn’t going to address the rumours because:
- Lets face it, they’re stupid rumours that I doubt anyone truly believes
- His image was all about an extreme lifestyle, and this rumour probably helped that.
Manson did write about the rumour however, in his autobiography ‘The Long Hard Road Out of Hell’.
“who really has time to be killing puppies when you can be sucking your own d**k? I think I’m gonna call the surgeon in the morning.”
Marilyn Manson, The Long Hard Road Out of Hell
And in 2019, Manson released a statement on his website stating that he DID have his ribs removed.
…so that he could more easily bend over and suck other peoples genitals instead.
Before Marilyn Manson
Interestingly, in my research I also found similar rib removal rumours about The Artist Formerly Known As Prince on a internet forum from 2004.
In another article from 2013 there was a rumour that Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio also had his ribs removed so that he could auto-fellate.
So it seems that the rumour of someone taking out their lower ribs came first. The rumour just gets attached to whoever is most fitting for the time.
Maybe in a few years we will hear a rumour of Machine Gun Kelly having his ribs removed…
Even before the modern era of celebrity obsession, people were making up rumours of rib removal though.
There were rumours in the late 18th century that women ha ribs removed to achieve a better corset fit and a thinner waistline.
To date, no evidence of this procedure ever happening has ever surfaced, but it shows that people have been gossiping forever.
Is it even possible to remove those ribs?
Let’s take Marilyn Manson out of the equation for a moment and discuss what’s being said: it is said that guys can have their lower two ribs removed, so that they can bend over further and perform oral sex on themselves.
Is that even actually a thing?
Well, apparently rib removed is a valid surgery that some people have; either because the rib is causing damage to an organ, or if the rib is cancerous or some similar reason.
Some people have stated that it is potentially possible that guys could have their lower ribs removed, but that the procedure would be invasive, risky, and really far more hassle than its worth.
Wrap Up
So, to summarise: no, Marilyn Manson did NOT get his ribs removed so that he could pleasure himself.
The rumour was started in the 90s because its a popular rumour and Marilyn Manson is a good fit for it that people can (and did) believe.
This whole thing just shows how fast rumours and urban legends can spread, and how hard they can be to stop.
However, with Manson facing so many sexual abuse allegations and his reputation very much in the ground at the moment, I think its really fun to think that this rumour will be his defining legacy!
