FKA twigs accuses Shia LaBeouf of sexual battery, 'relentless abuse' in disturbing lawsuit
FKA twigs is accusing Shia LaBeouf of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress in a troubling lawsuit filed Friday. She also claims LaBeouf knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease.
The 32-year-old musician, born Tahliah Debrett Barnett, recounted the “relentless abuse” she allegedly suffered during their relationship in an interview with the New York Times.
“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.”
Barnett met LaBeouf, 34, in 2018 when she was cast in his mostly autobiographical film Honey Boy. They dated for nearly a year. When the honeymoon phase wore off, she claims she was subjected to physical, emotional and mental abuse on multiple occasions. One incident from Feb. 2019 is detailed in the lawsuit, obtained by the Times.
According to the article, Barnett and LaBeouf were in the desert where he “raged at her throughout the trip,” waking her up once “in the middle of the night, choking her.” On the way back to Los Angeles, he began driving recklessly, “removing his seatbelt and threatening to crash unless she professed her love for him.”
“After she begged to be let out of the car, she said he pulled over at a gas station and she took her bags from the trunk. But Mr. LaBeouf followed, and assaulted her, throwing her against the car while screaming in her face, according to the suit. He then forced her back in the car,” the article states.
After the incident, Barnett was discouraged to leave as it happened in public and she said no one stepped in to help her. An attempt she made to tell a colleague was dismissed.
“I just thought to myself, no one is ever going to believe me,” she told the Times. “I’m unconventional. And I’m a person of color who is a female.”
A second former girlfriend of LaBeouf’s also accused him of abusive behavior in the lawsuit. Karolyn Pho, who dated the actor for two years, claims he once 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,” the stylist told the Times.
A representative for LaBeouf did not immediately respond to Yahoo Entertainment’s request for comment. However, the actor issued a statement via email to the Times.
“I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel,” he 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.”
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https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fka-twigs-shia-labeouf-sexual-battery-abuse-lawsuit-185656747.html