FKA Twigs has filed a new complaint against Shia LaBeouf, claiming that the actor tried to silence her right to speak publicly about the alleged sexual abuse that the singer experienced during their relationship. Last year, Twigs abandoned the complaint that had been active since December 2020 against her ex-partner. Now, his legal team points to an “illegal confidentiality agreement.”
Twigs’ initial complaint was initially dropped after both parties reached a mutual agreement. According to new legal documents, picked up by Pitchfork, this was actually done to spare LaBeouf a “public and uncomfortable trial and potentially enormous damages for his conduct.”
Now, Twigs’ legal team claims that this agreement contained an NDA that prohibited the artist from “not only disclosing information about her own survival of sexual abuse and assault but also speaking about the abuse generally and as an important topic of public interest.”
It all started after Tahliah Barnett, real name of FKA Twigs, mentioned in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last December that she did not feel “safe” after her relationship with LaBeouf. It was then that the company received an arbitration claim alleging a breach of contract.
Although this was ultimately dismissed, Barnett has now taken the matter to court, arguing that the NDA clauses are part of the actor’s “continued efforts” to “silence” his word.
FKA Twigs is not seeking any financial compensation: “She is filing this action to right wrongs and also on behalf of other women who are victims of domestic and sexual violence who do not have the resources to report and defend themselves against predators,” her lawyer has stated.
