Last week, The New York Times published a report on the abuse allegations of seven women against singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, with the accusers saying he had a history of being obsessive and controlling, as well as verbally abusive and vindictive against women who refused his advances—in addition to an allegation that he sent graphic texts and videos to a woman who was underage at the time. One of the women who went on the record with the Times was Adams’ ex-wife Mandy Moore, who was married to Adams from 2009 to 2016 and said that he would use music as a “point of control” to force women to give him what he wanted and that he exhibited a “destructive, manic sort of back and forth behavior.”
Today, Mandy Moore appeared on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, and while it was recorded before the New York Times story was published, she did acknowledge the “unhealthy dynamic” she had with her ex-husband. For one thing, she told Maron that Adams was so dependent on her that “things would completely fall apart at home” if she was working too much, which meant she began to take on “little jobs” so she could “pay attention to this person who needed me and wouldn’t let me do anything else.”
“I was living my life for him,” Moore said, adding that she “had no sense of self” when they were together. “I felt like I was drowning. It was so untenable and unsustainable and it was so lonely.” Pitchfork points out that Moore didn’t address any of her specific abuse allegations against Adams while talking to Maron, but she did mention that she’s planning to release an album of “very personal” songs while she’s on hiatus from This Is Us. “I feel like I’ve lived a life in the last 10 years. I’ve got plenty to say.” This album will be Moore’s first since 2009's Amanda Leigh, which was released just months after she married Adams.