Newspapers of the time gave a great deal of attention to Manola's personal affairs, avidly documenting her relationships, activities, and illnesses.

[4] Marion, a soprano whose ambition was to sing grand opera, studied in Paris with Mathilde Marchesi for nine months.

The couple then moved to England and joined the Lingard and Van Biene's comic opera company.

[1] Her initial American performances received poor reviews, so Manola offered the company her resignation and was stunned to have it accepted.

[12] Manola's case, cited in the 1890 Harvard Law Review article, "The Right to Privacy", by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis, was one of the first to assert that an actress had a property right in her own professional image.

[15] In 1891, Manola played the lead in Maid Marian, an opera by Reginald De Koven and Harry B. Smith, but it was not a success in England.

[21] In August 1894, Manola was taken to the Keeley Institute in North Conway, New Hampshire for medical treatment, and she was described as "hopelessly insane", with near total loss of memory.

The New York Times reported that, during the previous year, Manola had used champagne and injections of morphine daily on "the advice of her medical counselors".

[20] There was speculation in the press that Manola's mental trouble could be attributed to the use of morphine and opium, which Mason's brother firmly denied.

At the urging of friends, Mason left New York for an undisclosed location, while Manola tried unsuccessfully to discover his whereabouts.

On July 21, 1898, a mutual friend of the couple received a telegram:[26] In the name of humanity, ask John Mason to at once write, wire or come to Marion Manola.

(Signed) Maud DanielThe mutual friend declined to provide Mason's address to Manola, in response to the telegram.

[28] Mason was drinking heavily at this time, and quarreled violently with Manola, upsetting her to the point that she became ill and unable to perform.

In a statement to reporters, Askin alluded to working problems with Manola and Mason and declared that Adelaide had traveled with him on her own volition, which she corroborated.

[28] Willa Cather, then working as a journalist, scooped the other papers by posing as a friend of Manola's to obtain an interview with Adelaide after she had left New York to travel to her father's home.

However, when Manola returned to performing with the Wilbur Opera Company, she resumed a habit of "quarts of whiskey a day" and up to 18 grains of morphine.

"[27] By 1900, the New York Supreme Court was hearing Manola's suit for divorce from Mason, naming a 65-year-old widow as co-respondent.

[4] Their divorce was granted on April 27, 1900, finding that Mason was guilty of improper conduct with an unknown woman and awarding Manola $25 a week as alimony.

[36] In 1904,[37][4] Manola married George G. Gates, an accountant, and they lived across the street from her ex-husband Mason in New Rochelle, New York.