Deryck Whibley: Sum 41 frontman reveals years of sexual abuse by former manager Greig Nori in new memoir

In his newly released memoir, Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, Whibley details the abuse and psychological manipulation he says he endured at the hands of Greig Nori, allegations the manager has since denied.

Whibley, now 44, writes that the abuse began when he was just 18, after Nori, then in his 30s and a frontman for a popular Canadian indie band, started mentoring him. What began as a professional relationship turned dark during an incident at a rave, when Nori "passionately" kissed Whibley in a bathroom stall. Whibley recalls being confused and high on ecstasy at the time, which made the situation even more difficult to process.

According to Whibley, this marked the beginning of an unwanted sexual relationship that lasted about four years. In the memoir, he writes: “Greig kept pushing for things to happen when we were together. I started feeling like I was being pressured to do something against my will.” Even after the physical relationship ended, Whibley claims that the abuse continued in verbal and psychological forms.

For years, Whibley kept the details of the relationship a secret, even from his bandmates. He eventually opened up to his then-wife, Canadian singer Avril Lavigne, who immediately recognised the gravity of the situation.“That’s abuse! He sexually abused you,”Lavigne told him, as he recalls in the memoir. The couple was married from 2006 to 2009.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Whibley explained that he had long intended to keep the abuse a secret. “I thought it would be a deep, dark secret I was going to take to my grave,"he said. "But I didn’t know how to tell the story (of the band) without it, because it was so intertwined with everything that was going on in my life back at that point, almost on a daily basis.”

Whibley’s revelations come at a significant time for Sum 41, as the multi-award-winning punk band is currently on its farewell world tour, preparing to disband after 28 years together. Formed in 1996, the band has sold over 15 million albums worldwide and remains a prominent figure in the punk rock scene.

The band parted ways with Nori in 2005, but Whibley says the emotional scars of the relationship remained. Nori, however, has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them "false" and stating he has retained a defamation lawyer. He told The Globe and Mail that the claims are untrue, though he has yet to issue a detailed response.

Despite the gravity of the allegations, Whibley told the Los Angeles Times that he did not notify Nori about the memoir before its publication, explaining: “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?”