Deryck Whibley, frontman of the Canadian punk band Sum 41, has alleged in his newly published memoir, Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, that he was abused for years by the band’s former manager, Greig Nori.
Whibley claims that Nori groomed and sexually abused him beginning when he was a teenager.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Whibley, now 44, revealed that he kept the abuse hidden from his bandmates for years.
Nori, who was the frontman of a popular Canadian indie band in the 1990s, met Whibley when the Sum 41 singer was just 18 years old and began mentoring him.
Nori later became the band’s manager.
Whibley alleges that during a rave, Nori unexpectedly kissed him in a bathroom stall while he was under the influence of ecstasy.
This moment marked the beginning of what Whibley describes as an unwanted sexual relationship that lasted about four years.
In the memoir, he recounts feeling pressured and coerced into the relationship.
Even after the physical relationship ended, Whibley claims that Nori continued to subject him to verbal and psychological abuse.
He disclosed the abuse to his former wife, Canadian singer Avril Lavigne, who responded by identifying it as sexual abuse.
The couple were married from 2006 to 2009.
Whibley admits that he initially intended to keep the relationship a secret but felt compelled to include it in the memoir as it was deeply intertwined with the band’s early history.
Sum 41 parted ways with Nori as their manager in 2005.
In response to the allegations, Nori has denied the claims, calling them “false” and stating that Whibley initiated the relationship.
He told The Globe and Mail that the relationship “faded out consensually” and has since retained a defamation lawyer.
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