FKA Twigs is suing ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf for their allegedly abusive relationship.
Twigs, 32, has accused LaBeouf, 34, of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress, the New York Times reported. One incident described in the lawsuit occurred just after Valentine’s Day 2019 claims LaBeouf was driving recklessly, threatening to crash the car if Twigs, a passenger, didn’t profess her love for him.
She claims she begged to be let out of the car, and LaBeouf pulled over at a gas station, followed her out of the car and assaulted her, throwing her against the car, according to the lawsuit.
The two were driving home from a trip to the desert during which the “Honey Boy” star allegedly raged out and woke Twigs up one night and choked her.
“I’d like to be able to raise awareness on the tactics that abusers use to control you and take away your agency,” Twigs told the New York Times.
Twigs and LaBeouf first met in 2018 when she joined the cast of “Honey Boy,” but didn’t start dating until after filming wrapped. The beginning of their relationship was a typical “honeymoon phase” filled with “over-the-top displays of affection” that helped earn her trust, she said.
In the lawsuit, Twigs, born Tahliah Debrett Barnett, claims the “Transformers” star knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease. She also claims he would grab her so hard, she would bruise.
She says she didn’t go to police at first out of fear of harming her career and not being taken seriously.
LaBeouf said in an email to the New York Times, “I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel. I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say.”
Karolyn Pho, a stylist and another of LaBeouf’s ex-girlfriends, also claims he abused her. In the lawsuit, she details one night when LaBeouf allegedly drunkenly pinned her to a bed and head-butted her, causing her to bleed.
“So much goes into breaking down a man or woman to make them OK with a certain kind of treatment,” Pho told the Times.
In a separate email to the publication, LaBeouf stated that “many of these allegations are not true,” but owed the women “the opportunity to air their statements publicly and accept accountability for those things I have done.”
LaBeouf said he’s now “a sober member of a 12-step program” and in therapy.
“I am not cured of my PTSD and alcoholism,” he wrote, “but I am committed to doing what I need to do to recover, and I will forever be sorry to the people that I may have harmed along the way.”
Both Twigs and Pho claim in the lawsuit that LaBeouf didn’t like it if they looked at or talked to male waiters, so Twigs learned to keep her eyes down when conversing with men. The “Magdalene” singer also says LaBeouf convinced her to stay with him in Los Angeles instead of returning to London, where she and her professional team lived. The decision, she says, furthered her isolation.
“The whole time I was with him, I could have bought myself a business-flight plane ticket back to my four-story townhouse in Hackney,” she told the publication. “He brought me so low, below myself, that the idea of leaving him and having to work myself back up just seemed impossible.”
Twigs says she plans to donate a significant portion of any winnings she receives to domestic-violence charities.
“What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life,” she said. “I don’t think people would ever think that it would happen to me. But I think that’s the thing. It can happen to anybody.”
Twigs and LaBeouf dated for a little less than a year. She was previously engaged to Robert Pattinson, splitting in 2017 after three years together. She is currently dating The 1975’s Matt Healy. Meanwhile, LaBeouf was spotted in March cozying up to ex Mia Goth. The pair — who were married, but split in 2018 — were wearing what appeared to be wedding rings while on a bike ride.