Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams apologizes for his “harmful behavior” more than a year after several women filed allegations that he sexually persecuted them and then used their relationships to harass or emotionally abuse them.
In a statement published by the Daily Mail on Friday, Adams said he regretted “the ways I have mistreated people throughout my life and career” and that he has spent the past year reflecting on his actions and getting sober.
“That said, no amount of growth will remove the suffering it had caused,” said Adams. “I will never get rid of the issue and I am fully responsible for my harmful behavior, and I will do so for my actions in the future.”
In February 2019, the New York Times published accounts of seven women, including Mandy Moore, the singer and actress who was married to Adams for seven years, and musician Phoebe Bridgers who shared similar stories about the promises, insistence on control. and Adams’ retaliation. .
At the time, Adams apologized, but said the Times’ story was inaccurate.
In his new statement, Adams did not directly address the newspaper reports, but said this apology was not “like the same empty apology that I always used when they called me.”
“I have gotten past the point where I would apologize for the simple fact that I am released and I know very well that any apology on my part will probably not be accepted by those whom I have hurt,” he said. “I hope the people I have hurt heal. And I hope they find a way to forgive me.”
According to the Times, Adams exchanged messages online with a fan and bass player identified as Ava starting at age 14. The Times, which reviewed the texts, said that when she was 15 and 16 years old, the messages included explicit sexual content and that Adams had asked her to keep their relationship a secret.
Bridgers, who wrote about her emotionally abusive relationship with Adams in her song “Motion Sickness,” told the Times that shortly after Adams reached out to discuss the release of a record of her music in 2014 when she was 20, they began a relationship. Within weeks, Adams was arguing about the marriage and sending obsessive and emotionally abusive text messages, the Times reported.
When she broke up with him, Adams delayed the release of his music and withdrew an offer for her to open for him on the tour, he told the Times. Three years later, she hesitantly accepted a new offer to open on multiple dates.
Moore, who married Adams in 2009, told the Times that she effectively took over her career and that she considered Adams to be psychologically abusive. She said that although they would write songs together, Adams would not record them. He would also reserve study time with her and then replace her with other women, Moore said.
“In my effort to be a better man, I have struggled to be sober, but this time I am doing it with professional help,” Adams said, adding that he is now prioritizing his sobriety and mental health. “I really want to express that I have internalized the importance of self-care and self-work. I am really trying.”
