Rose McGowan felt “young and free” with Marilyn Manson.

The ‘Charmed’ actress enjoyed a three-and-a-half-year relationship with the rocker and admits it was a great distraction as she could “focus” on him.

She said: “Being with [Marilyn Manson] was very instrumental in healing for me at that point, because I wanted to be young and free, and I felt so old. I had just been like working, it felt like, for so long and I’ve done like five movies in a row, and then the bad thing happened. And after that, I just wanted to run away with the circus and just feel free and have fun. And also because people are like sending him death threats all the time and all that – it was more about me protecting him. I could focus on him, instead of dealing with my own stuff.”

The 46-year-old actress attended the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards with Marilyn and wore a risque dress, something which gave her “power”.

Speaking about her appearance at the music awards show, she added to Yahoo! Entertainment: “It was my first big public appearance after being sexually assaulted. I just felt like, ‘Oh Hollywood, would you want a body just that you can use and throw away? Then I’ve got one for you!’ It was like at the end of Gladiator when he comes out and he’s like, ‘Are you not entertained?’ And if you look at me, I did it with power. I didn’t do it with my hand on my hip to be sexy … Most of the women that are dressed like that on the red carpet, it’s a calculated, sexy move to turn people on. Mine was like, ‘I’m gonna f*** with your brain. I’m going to blow your brain up.’ And nobody had done it.”