Why is Marilyn Manson dressed like Mickey Mouse?

Marilyn Manson wears Mickey Mouse ears on the cover of Paper magazine. Photo / Paper; Getty Images

He has made a career out of being a bit off kilter.

And in the new issue of Paper magazine, Marilyn Manson is as weird as ever.

For the cover, the four-time Grammy nominee - born Brian Warner - wears dramatic eye makeup and a set of Mickey Mouse ears.

In his interview, he talks aliens and angels.

In one snap, Marilyn, 46, is sitting on a hard wood floor next to a sign that reads: "Forgive your enemies, it messes with their minds."

In the accompanying interview, the star said he is open to supernatural stirrings.

"I do believe in things beyond our understanding: aliens, angels, demons, whatever they are."

The rocker released his ninth studio album called The Pale Emperor on January 20.

"I'm a rock star; I'm not a celebrity," he said. "There's a difference, and that's a definition I try to make clear on this record."

When asked about muses, something Manson believes in, he says he doesn't look at his girlfriend, photographer and model Lindsay Usich, as one.

"I wouldn't say so much a muse [inspired the record] as it was me trying to regain myself," he said.

"It was a tough year romantically in the sense that, when I turned myself upside down, it was hard for people really close to me - because one day I said, 'Tomorrow I'm going to change my entire lifestyle'."

Marilyn said he has shifted his vampiric clock to start waking up in the morning, stopped drinking absinthe and started going to a trainer ("to kick people's asses if I need to").

"I liked the power of being in control of my life," he said. "I don't have to be tortured to be an artist. This year, I was not tortured."

He also posed with his father in the spread. The two have grown closer since his mother passed away last May after suffering from dementia.

The Sons of Anarchy actor has previously romanced Rose McGowan, Evan Rachel Wood, porn stars Stoya and Jenna Jameson, and he divorced burlesque performer Dita Von Teese in 2007.

The issue hits stands February 16.

- Daily Mail