LaBeouf started dating the British artist, whose real name is Tahliah Barnett, in the fall of 2018, stepping out together while he and his wife of less than two years, Mia Goth, were busy divorcing. FKA twigs appeared in Honey Boy, which they shot that year (while, coincidentally, Goth had just made High Life with FKA twigs’ ex Robert Pattinson). But by June 2019, the “Cellophane” singer and the actor had cooled off, a source telling E! News that their communication had been “very minimal” while she was on tour.
Now FKA twigs alleges that, after showering her with “over-the-top displays of affection” when they first got together, he became toxically controlling. “He brought me so low, below myself, that the idea of leaving him and having to work myself back up just seemed impossible,” her complaint states.
LaBeouf’s rep hasn’t yet responded to E! News’ request for comment, but he said in a statement to the New York Times, which first reported the lawsuit as well as allegations from other women that he mistreated them: “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.”
In a follow-up email, he asserted that “many of these allegations are not true,” but he owed the women all “the opportunity to air their statements publicly” while he accepted “accountability for those things I have done.”
He’s currently sober and in a 12-step program, as well as in therapy, LaBeouf added. “I am not cured of my PTSD and alcoholism,” he continued, “but 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.”
While he had previously acknowledged that he had some problems, it was once he had stared his father issues in the face writing the script for Honey Boy that he broached the subject of PTSD, tracing his unraveling back to his earliest days in the spotlight.