Deryck Whibley has accused his former manager of sexual abuse in a new memoir.
In the book, titled Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, the Sum 41 frontman alleges the rock group’s first manager, Greig Nori, groomed and sexually abused him for years.
Whibley claimed the abuse started when he was 16 and Nori was 34. He alleged it lasted until 2004, when a mutual friend learned of what had allegedly happened.
Nori, 61, has not yet responded to Whibley’s allegations.
In an extract of the book obtained by The Los Angeles Times, the musician also claimed the Treble Charger frontman unexpectedly and “passionately” kissed him in a bathroom when he was 18, with Nori allegedly pressuring him into a sexual relationship and insisting they had a “special connection”.
While Whibley, 44, still hasn’t told his bandmates about his alleged experiences, he claimed to have opened up to former wife Avril Lavigne when they first started dating in the mid-2000s.
“That’s abuse! He sexually abused you,” he quoted Lavigne as once telling him in the memoir.
Whibley and Lavigne were married from 2006 until their divorce was finalised in 2010, with the Canadian rocker now wed to model Ariana Cooper.
In addition, Whibley accused Nori of psychologically and verbally abusing him while working as a manager of Sum 41 and insisting he be credited as a songwriter on many of the band’s tracks.
Sum 41 and Nori parted ways following the release of their album Chuck in 2005.
And in a conversation for The Los Angeles Times, Whibley noted that he finally feels ready to speak about the alleged abuse.
“You know, I don’t owe him anything,” the Fat Lip hitmaker told the publication. “I’ve had an inner battle, like, ‘Why do I want to tell him? Because I feel like I’m supposed to? Because he still has this thing over me?’ He controlled everything in my life, but even the rest of the guys through the band. We were all under his wing. Me more, obviously. But he was such a controlling person.”
Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell is now available to purchase.
