Marilyn Manson is not engaged, despite what you may have read

Marilyn Manson is not engaged, despite what you may have read online.

Life & Style reported that the rocker asked Seraphim Ward, aself-described “independent occult filmmaker and industrial goth rock artist,” to marry him Thursday, quoting an unnamed “friend.” A rep for Ward told the tabloid, “Seraphim is in a committed relationship and is over the moon about what her bright future holds with her partner.”

E! News originally posted a story confirming this report. However, E! updated the article after Manson’s publicist told them that he’s not engaged to Ward — nor has he ever met her.

So what exactly is going on here?

From her Twitter account, Ward tweeted a stock photo of a diamond ring with the text “OMG!” last week. Her publicist Jonathan “Jaxson” Shelton then asked if it was an engagement ring, which she confirmed tweeting, “Bless it be.” She then tweeted, “I am still speechless and in shock.” Shelton replied to that, “Congrats on the commitment your making personally and professionally love!”

Today, Shelton re-tweeted a link to the Life & Style report about the engagement. More than two hours later he tweeted, “Wow how the media spins things.”

Ward also issued a series of tweets denying the story.

The Life & Style report has since been taken down. A screenshot of the article can be seen to the left.

Shelton told Celebritology that Ward is engaged to Stephen Bier a.k.a. Madonna Wayne Gacy a.k.a. Pogo, a former Marilyn Manson keyboardist.

(Manson was once embroiled in a legal battle with Bier over band revenue and subsequently said he would not urinate “on Pogo if he was on fire.” They later reached a settlement.)

Shelton’s name may sound familiar to anyone who follows celebrity gossip. Earlier this year, he publicly apologized to Kim Kardashian for statements he made to the media about the reality star’s second marriage, including saying it was “staged.”

When asked why he re-tweeted a link to the Life & Style story, Shelton said he wanted to show how the media spins stories. By phone, Shelton denied telling Life & Style or E! News that Ward was engaged to Manson.

Was his comment to the organizations intentionally vague? That’s what E! News is perhaps implying: “When later asked by E! News whether indeed that was specifically the case and she was engaged to Manson, Ward's manager, Jonathan Shelton, issued a sort of confirmation, though never mentioning the musician by name.”

Long story short: Marilyn Manson is still single, ladies.