FKA Twigs brings new legal action against Shia LaBeouf
FKA Twigs has brought new legal action against Shia LaBeouf after receiving an arbitration demand from the actor’s legal team.
In 2020, the Grammy-winning musician, real name Tahliah Barnett, sued her former partner, LaBeouf, for sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress in December 2020, leading to a lengthy legal battle between the pair.
In July 2025, they reached a private settlement. At the time, it was reported that the terms of the dismissal state that the case has been dropped without prejudice, meaning that Barnett cannot make the same allegations against LaBeouf in the future.
Then, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in October, Barnett said, “I wouldn’t say I feel safe” now that the legal battle is over. She also shared, “I feel really passionate about being involved with organizations such as Sistah Space and No More, to help survivors in any way that I can. I think it’s less about me at this point and more about looking forward.”
LaBeouf’s arbitration demand was dismissed, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and the singer has now filed a new lawsuit, claiming that he is attempting to prevent her from discussing sexual violence, as well as her own experiences.
FKA Twigs’ lawyer Mathew Rosengart, wrote in the lawsuit that his client “files this action to right a wrong, and also on behalf of other women who are the victims of sexual and domestic violence who do not have the resources to speak out and defend themselves from predators”.
The filing added, “In so doing, she seeks to ensure that survivors of sexual misconduct are not bullied or silenced like she was.”
Per Variety, the new lawsuit also states that “even if the NDA provisions at issue were legal”, her prior comments given in the interview were “laudable, generic and benign”, which means they didn’t violate the terms of the prior agreement.
The suit continues, “LaBeouf’s campaign of intimidation and abuse of the legal system denigrates not just Mr. Barnett but every survivor of sexual abuse in this State.”
It adds, “As the California Legislature has made clear, survivors should have the right to tell their stories without fear or coercion, and California law does not and must not allow abusers and bullies to silence them through secret agreements containing unconscionable, unlawful gag orders.”
Her lawyers claim that Barnett was “forced” to file this new lawsuit due to LaBeouf’s “erroneous, perposterous legal postion: that he is somehow not covered by the STAND Act becasue he was supposedly sued by Ms. Barnett in 2020 only for sexual ‘battery,’ not sexual ‘assault’ and the STAND Act does not cover him as a sexual batterer even though, as matter of both common sense and law, the STAND Act covers both.”
In February, LaBeouf was arrested during Mardi Gras for assault in New Orleans, and later gave an interview with Andrew Callaghan about the incident. He also discussed his relationship with Barnett, which the lawsuit alleges was an act of “materially breaching the very confidentiality provisions that he had just contended were fully enforceable against Ms. Barnett”.
LaBeouf has not responded to the new lawsuit.
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