Shia LaBeouf Denies ‘Each & Every’ Assault Accusation By Ex FKA Twigs In New Court Filing
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Shia LaBeouf is denying FKA Twigs’ physical, emotional and mental abuse allegations in the ‘Honey Boy’ star’s response to his ex’s lawsuit. LaBeouf is also insisting that his ex did not suffer ‘injury or loss.’
Shia LaBeouf, 34, “denies, generally and specifically, each and every allegation contained” in FKA Twigs‘ abuse lawsuit that she filed against her ex in Dec. 2020, according to new court documents reviewed by HollywoodLife. FKA Twigs (born Tahliah Debrett Barnett) had accused LaBeouf of physical, emotional and mental abuse, including sexual battery and of knowingly giving her a sexually transmitted disease, in her original complaint. However, LaBeouf is now denying that the 33-year-old singer and actress “sustained any injury or loss by reason of any act or omission on the part of” LaBeouf during their relationship, per the response that the Disney Channel alum filed with the court on Dec. 11, 2020 that was made public on Feb. 10, 2021.
LaBeouf also denied that FKA Twigs “is entitled to any relief or damages whatsoever” on page two of his court documents (see above), after his ex alleged that it was “very expensive, and a massive undertaking of time and resources, to get out” of their relationship in her lawsuit. LaBeouf is also trying to bar FKA Twigs’ allegations by insisting that “none of the acts alleged were based on sex and/or the conduct was not sexual.”
Two months prior, LaBeouf had also informally responded to his ex-girlfriend‘s lawsuit by providing the following statement to The New York Times in Dec. 2020: “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, LaBeouf claimed in a separate email that “many of these allegations are not true,” in response to the abuse accusations made by both FKA Twigs and another ex, stylist Karolyn Pho. The actor added that he did owe them “the opportunity to air their statements publicly and accept accountability for those things I have done.” LaBeouf further revealed that while he’s “a sober member of a 12-step program” and attending therapy, he is “not cured” of his PTSD and alcoholism. “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,” LaBeouf added in the email.
Beyond the general allegations of abuse and emotional distress, FKA Twigs had detailed several incidents that allegedly transpired during her relationship with LaBeouf that began after they met on the set of Honey Boy in 2018 but reportedly ended by June of 2019. Around Valentine’s Day in 2019, FKA Twigs alleged that LaBeouf “forcibly slammed [the singer] against his car and then strangled her, after she was trying to escape from one of his manic tirades.” She also accused LaBeouf of threatening her and “claiming that he was in possession of personal text messages and other information that he could use to embarrass her,” per FKA Twigs’ court documents that HollywoodLife previously reviewed.
FKA Twigs spoke out more about their relationship, which lasted just short of a year, on the Grounded with Louis Theroux podcast in Jan. 2021. “Being nice to a waiter, or being polite to somebody, that could be seen as me flirting or wanting to engage in some sort of relationship with somebody else, when I’m literally just ordering pasta. I was told that I knew what he was like and if I loved him, I wouldn’t look men in the eye. That was my reality for a good four months,” FKA Twigs claimed during the interview. Later in the interview, the singer and actress said, “It’s a big thing to heal publicly and have to do it in front of everyone, but I can do it. I’m a big girl and I can do it.”