After filing a December lawsuit accusing her ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf of “relentless abuse,” FKA Twigs spoke to Elle magazine for its March cover story to discuss the “calculated, systematic, tricky, and mazelike” tactics she claims the actor used to control her and the reason she ultimately decided to come forward with her story.
The singer, born Tahliah Barnett, told the outlet of her former relationship, “It’s a miracle I came out alive,” later chalking up her narrow escape to pure “luck.” She explained, “I honestly wish I could say that I found some strength and I saw this light. I wish I could say, ‘[It is] a testament to my strong character,’ or ‘It’s the way my mother raised me.’ It’s none of that. It’s pure luck that I’m not in that situation anymore.” The fact that a woman of her stature with a network of supportive friends and family, financial security, and a hugely successful career could find herself in that situation is also what convinced Barnett to talk candidly about her experience. She said, “People wouldn’t think that it would happen to a woman like me. The biggest misconception is, ‘Well, you’re smart. If it was that bad, why didn’t you leave?’ It can happen to anyone.” The global pandemic and subsequent lockdowns also made her realize just how many women might be trapped in similar situations with their abusers. “It made me realize I need to come forward and talk about my experience,” she said.
She came forward with that experience in an interview with The New York Times in December, which first reported her lawsuit accusing LaBeouf of sexual battery, assault, infliction of emotional distress, and knowingly giving her a sexually transmitted disease. Another of LaBeouf’s ex-girlfriends, stylist Karolyn Pho, told the Times about similarly violent experiences she’d had with the actor, some of which were also included in the lawsuit. “He brought me so low, below myself, that the idea of leaving him and having to work myself back up just seemed impossible,” Barnett told the newspaper. “What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life.”
In her interview with Elle, the musician said that trying to recover from her relationship with LaBeouf has “been the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do.” She added, “It’s very fresh, for me, obviously. I know [this journey] is not going to be perfect. But I hope if I can make little steps, and people can see me taking my life back, it will inspire them. I’ve given [LaBeouf] back his dysfunction now. I went on my whole Magdalene tour holding that dysfunction—it was with me onstage, every time I did an interview, on every red carpet. I was not enjoying any of it. Because I was still holding it. But now I’ve given it back. Now he gets to hold it. And everyone knows what he’s done.”
In response to the allegations from both Barnett and Pho, LaBeouf initially seemed to take at least some responsibility for the allegations, writing in an email to the 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.” However, in a response to her December suit filed last week and obtained by People, LaBeouf’s legal team stated that the actor “denies, generally and specifically, each and every allegation contained in [Barnett]’s Complaint, denies that [Barnett] has sustained any injury or loss by reason of any act or omission on the part of [LaBeouf], and denies that [Barnett] is entitled to any relief or damages whatsoever.” The filing also requested that the pop star be ordered to pay LaBeouf’s legal fees as well as “further relief as the Court may deem just and proper.”
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