After FKA twigs filed a lawsuit alleging abuse against actor Shia LaBeouf, singer Sia is showing support for her fellow musician and making her own accusations against LaBeouf.
In a social media post Saturday, Sia recommended for others to “stay away” from the actor and said she had been “emotionally hurt” by LaBeouf, whom she worked with on a 2015 music video and who she now calls a “pathological liar.”
LaBeouf “conned me into an adulterous relationship claiming to be single,” Sia added. “I believe he’s very sick and have compassion for him AND his victims. Just know, if you love yourself- stay safe, stay away.”
FKA twigs responded to Sia’s message on Twitter Sunday.
“i’m sorry @Sia,” she wrote. “this reinforces why i had to publicly share my experience. we need to support each other <3”
i'm sorry @Sia this reinforces why i had to publicly share my experience. we need to support each other <3 https://t.co/0s5BJ9c7t3
— FKA twigs (@FKAtwigs) December 13, 2020
Sia, whose full name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, did not elaborate on the timeline or length of her relationship with LaBeouf. The actor appeared in Sia’s 2015 music video for her song “Elastic Heart.” At the time, he was dating Mia Goth, whom he married in a 2016 ceremony before they filed for divorce in 2018.
USA TODAY has reached out to LaBeouf’s representative for comment.
In a lawsuit filed Friday, 32-year-old FKA twigs, a singer/songwriter/dancer born Tahliah Debrett Barnett, sued her ex-boyfriend for repeated physical, emotional and mental abuse and assaults she alleged from their nearly year-long relationship.
“Shia LaBeouf hurts women,” the lawsuit said in its opening lines. “He uses them. He abuses them, both physically and mentally. He is dangerous.”
Twigs further opened up on social media Friday, explaining she chose to share her experience in hopes it may help others who are in domestic violence situations.
“My second worst nightmare is being forced to share with the world that i am a survivor of domestic violence,” Twigs writes to Instagram. “My first worst nightmare is not telling anyone and knowing that i could have helped even just one person by sharing my story.”
She noted it was hard for her to process she was in “an emotionally and physically abusive relationship” and never thought “something like this would happen to me.”
“Which is why I have decided it’s important for me to talk about it and try to help people understand that when you are under the coercive control of an abuser or in an interpersonal violent relationship leaving doesn’t feel like a safe or achievable option,” Twigs writes.
Sia added support for Twigs in another social media post Saturday: “Also I love you @FKAtwigs This is very courageous and I’m very proud of you.” Twigs later thanked the singer for her “love and solidarity.”
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, was obtained by USA TODAY. Twigs lists five “causes of action” – battery, sexual battery, assault, emotional distress and gross negligence – against LaBeouf and seeks unspecified monetary damages from him.
Besides Twigs, the other woman named in the suit was Karolyn Pho, a stylist who is also a former girlfriend of LaBeouf’s, who described traumatic experiences with LaBeouf during their relationship.
The lawsuit, which asserts LaBeouf knowingly giving Twigs a sexually transmitted disease, accuses him of “relentless abuse,” including sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress.
Twigs told the The New York Times she is going public to show how even a critically acclaimed musician with money, a home and a strong network of supporters could be caught in such a predicament.
“I’d like to be able to raise awareness on the tactics that abusers use to control you and take away your agency,” she told the Times in an interview.
Twigs’ Los Angeles lawyer, Bryan Freedman, issued a statement to USA TODAY later Friday:
Shia LaBoeuf has abused Ms. Barnett, Ms.Pho and others. We tried to resolve this matter privately on the condition that Mr. LaBeouf agree to receive meaningful and consistent psychological treatment. Since he was unwilling to agree to get appropriate help, Ms. Barnett filed this suit to prevent others from unknowingly suffering similar abuse by him.
Bryan Freedman of Freedman + Taitelman, LLP
LaBeouf, 34, whose latest movie, “Pieces of a Woman,” is opening Dec. 30 with a lot of buzz, responded to the allegations in an email to The Times, saying he was “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.”
Contributing: Charles Trepany
