FKA Twigs Sues Ex-Boyfriend Shia LaBeouf, Recalls Harrowing Abuse

According to a New York Times report, FKA Twigs alleges she experienced "relentless abuse."

FKA Twigs is suing her ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf following years of abuse which she detailed in a damning report out today. 

In a New York Times story, FKA Twigs shared the physical, emotional, and mental abuse that transpired during the couple’s relationship. The artist shared the following during an interview, “I’d like to be able to raise awareness on the tactics that abusers use to control you and take away your agency.” 

The artist filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. Court paperwork viewed by the New York Times alleges LeBeouf subjected Tahliah Debrett Barnett (FKA Twigs) to “relentless abuse.” In 2018 and 2019 while they were dating, she says the abuse spanned “sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress.” The report also explicitly detailed that LeBeouf constantly grabbed Barnett “to the point of bruising” and knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease. 

One part of the report was unforgettable — Barnett expressed that she was isolated by LaBeouf and didn’t feel she had the power to escape the world she’d become a part of. In the report, she also shared she got to a point where she feared going to the bathroom at night as LeBeouf slept with a loaded gun on his bedside table. She was “scared” he’d believe she was an intruder if she got up.

“What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life,” she said in the New York Times report. “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.”

LeBeouf offered a response via email on the allegations which also included an account of abuse from another former girlfriend, stylist Karolyn Pho. "I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel," he said. "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."

Read the entire report here.