FKA Twigs is speaking her truth and we’re here to listen. Bravely choosing to share detailed accounts of her alleged emotionally, verbally, and sexually abusive relationship with actor Shia LaBeouf, for her first television interview on CBS This Morning with Gayle King.
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Describing LaBeouf as “an inherently abusive” person, Twigs previously filed a lawsuit against the former Transformers actor for his abuse as well as assault and battery, however, LaBeouf denies the allegations.
Twigs, whose real name is Tahlia Barnett, first spoke of the allegations in December, telling Elle, “I think it’s luck,”, when asked how she'd survived. “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.”
Now ready to share more, not just for her, but for the benefit of others, “because the signs really are there from the beginning.” For Twigs there wasn’t one set moment when she realized there was a problem, noting, “it’s a real gradual step by step process to get somebody to a place where they loose themselves so much.” Powerfully adding, “It’s not one thing, it’s loads of tiny little things that get sewn together into a nightmare.”
While gradual, Twigs says the abuse was constant, claiming LaBeouf would wake her up to accuse her of plotting to leave him, adding she’d wake up confused, “and I'd be like, 'I literally was asleep.’” Additionally, Barnett told King, “he would only want me to sleep naked because he said if I didn't then I was keeping myself from him.” Going on to say, ”It's a tactic that a lot of abusers use. It's just this constant availability, and everything centered around them.” During his late night fits of anger over the perceived plotting, Twigs said LaBeouf would tell her she was "disgusting" and “vile.”
As it seems, LaBeouf’s abhorrent behavior didn’t apply to Twigs alone. As she shared, LaBeouf allegedly shot animals as a way to prepare for his role in the 2020 film The Tax Collector. “I said to him, ‘That’s really bad. Why are you doing that?’,” Twigs said “And he was like, ‘because I take my art seriously. You’re not supporting me in my art. This is what I do. It’s different from singing. I don’t just get up on a stage and do a few moves. I’m in the character.’ He made me feel bad, like I didn’t understand what it was like to be an actor or to do this… Method.”
Additionally she shared that in between LaBeouf would display overt affection to win her back after fights. “He would send me between 10 and 20 bunches of flowers a day for 10 days. Every time I would sit down to work or watch something, the doorbell would ring, and it would be another three bunches of flowers. On the tag, each time, it would say, ‘More love,’ ‘More love,’ ‘More love’, ” she said, adding, “It was a bit too much. It felt uncomfortable. I look back now, and it feels like really aggressive love.”
Barnett goes on to detail much more of the horrific experiences she was faced with, including the setting of quotas for the number of kisses she was supposed to give him in a day, to which falling short would result in hours of verbal abuse. “I was very intimidated living with him. He had a gun by the side of the bed and was erratic,” never knowing what would make him angry, Twigs was in constant fear. And disturbingly there’s more.
Despite denial, interestingly enough, LaBeouf had the following to say in his statement reacting to the allegations. “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.”
Well we for one aren’t really interested in what LaBeouf has to say. As for what FKA Twigs is saying, we’re definitely interested and were all ears. Check it out for yourself in the interview clips above and below.
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