FKA Twigs Is Suing Ex-Boyfriend Shia LaBeouf for ‘Relentless’ Abuse & Sexual Battery

A new interview published by The New York Times reveals that FKA twigs is suing her ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf for abuse, including physical assault, sexual battery, and the infliction of emotional distress during their relationship. The singer, 32, and Transformers alum, 34, dated for about a year from 2018 to 2019 after starring together in his 2019 film, Honeyboy.

FKA twigs filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, according to the paper. The filing reportedly includes multiple instances where twigs claims that she was abused by LaBeouf, such as one incident in 2019 when the actor allegedly threw her against their car outside of a gas station in California and forced her back inside the vehicle after she attempted to leave. The singer’s lawsuit also claims that LaBeouf once attempted to strangle her in the middle of the night, would grab her to the point of bruising, and knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease, among other instances, according to the Times.

“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 Times as to why she decided to file the lawsuit now. “What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life,” she later added. “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.” The New York Times’ December 11 interview also reports that twigs intends to donate a significant portion of any monetary damages to domestic-violence charities.

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The lawsuit not only highlights twigs’ experiences with LaBeouf, but points to a “cycle of abuse of women over the years,” according to an excerpt obtained by Variety. “For too long, LaBeouf has sought to excuse his reprehensible actions as the eccentricities of a free-thinking ‘artist,'” the lawsuit reads. “Even though his history of violent behavior was well-documented, many in the media have treated LaBeouf as a harmless figure of fun, which has helped enable him to perpetuate his cycle of abuse of women over the years. There is nothing funny about the exploitation of and battering of women.”

This abuse includes additional accusations by another one of LaBeouf’s exes, stylist Karolyn Pho, who claims LaBeouf once pinned her to a bed and head-butted her to the point of bleeding. “So much goes into breaking down a man or woman to make them OK with a certain kind of treatment,” she said in an interview.

LaBeouf responded to these claims in emails to The New York Times, writing that “many of these allegations are not true,” but accepting that he owed his accusers “the opportunity to air their statements publicly and accept accountability for those things I have done.”

“I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel,” LaBeouf also wrote. “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.”

The actor explained that he was “not cured” of his PTSD and alcoholism, revealing that he is a sober member of a 12-step program. “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.”