FKA twigs remembers some unusual rules when she was dating actor Shia LaBeouf.
“I was told that I knew what he looked like and if I loved him, I wouldn’t look men in the eye, so that was my reality for a good four months near the end of the relationship, that I was not allowed to look at men eyes, ”said twigs, whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, in the latest issue of the BBC podcast Grounded With Louis Theroux.
Twigs dated LaBeouf after she starred with him in the 2019 film Dear boy, which was inspired by LaBeouf’s own life as a child actor. They separated in June 2019, after almost a year. In December, she filed a lawsuit against LaBeouf, in which she alleged sexual assault, assault, imposition of emotional distress and that he intentionally transmitted a sexually transmitted disease to her. A second ex-girlfriend, Carolyn Pho, added her own allegations to the lawsuit.
“So I keep looking down all the time,” said twigs, “and, you know, it really helps someone’s confidence when you’re worried about someone being nice to you in a store. Any kind of pleasant day-to-day interaction can result in three days, you know, of me being scolded and kept awake. “
Although the branches said she was forbidden to pay attention to others, she needed to have a number of interactions with LaBeouf each day.
“I had a quota that I had to meet, that changed … so it was, like, touches, or looks, or kisses, that your previous partner apparently hit that number very well, so I was ‘inappropriate’ compared to one his former partner, and I had to get the touches and kisses right, ”she explained. “But I never knew exactly … what the exact number was, but it was essentially about 20 a day.”
If she didn’t comply, twigs said she was scolded and made to feel “like I was the worst person ever. Like, I really thought I was so cold and so horrible and such a terrible girlfriend. ”She even called a crying ex, asking if it was true. “I just didn’t know who I was. I was empty. “
She stopped talking to family and friends. Getting out seemed impossible, she said, until an incident described in the process. The couple had made a trip to the desert, in which the Transformers star supposedly choked branches while sleeping and at a gas station, then intentionally drove recklessly, threatening to crash the car unless she said she loved him.
“I remember going back to where I was and calling a helpline for abused women. And I literally, like, searched Google for the free abuse of women helpline in the US, ”said Twigs. “You know, I just called the first one who came.”
It didn’t happen immediately, but she started planning to leave. The musician called her best friend and started seeing a therapist twice a week. Even after breaking up, she said the panic attacks had plagued her for a while.
LaBeouf’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Yahoo Entertainment. When the branches made their allegations public, LaBeouf issued a statement:
“I am not in a position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel. I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, just rationalizations, ”he said. “I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting those closest to me. I’m ashamed of this story and I’m sorry for those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say. “
Although LaBeouf said that many of the allegations against him “were not true”, he said he owed women “the opportunity to publicly expose his statements and accept responsibility for everything I did”. He added that he is enrolled in a 12-step program. “I am not cured of my PTSD and alcoholism, but I am committed to doing what I need to do to recover and I will forever feel sorry for the people I may have harmed along the way.”
Twigs said part of what got her talking was hearing that, during the pandemic, many victims of abuse were confined to their homes with their attackers, causing rates to skyrocket.
“This situation is no longer about Shia, and it is not really about me,” she said. “I’m doing this for something much bigger, which is … I just want to change the conversation and the stigma surrounding domestic violence.”
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, contact the National domestic violence hotline 24/7 at 800-799-7233 or via online chat at thehotline.org.
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