UPDATED with settlement: Shia LaBeouf and FKA Twigs have reached a settlement over a 2020 civil lawsuit filed by the latter accusing LaBeouf of sexual assault and battery, according to Los Angeles Superior Court documents.
A request for dismissal by the Bryan Freedman and Sean Hardy on behalf of FKA Twigs (real name Tahliah Barnett) was filed Monday in the case, which had been scheduled to go to trial later this year.
FKA Twigs had filed the lawsuit in December 2020, alleging sexual abuse and battery at the hands of LaBeouf, who met when they were cast in the 2019 Alma Har’el-directed film Honey Boy.
“Committed to forging a constructive path forward, we have agreed to settle our case out of court,” Twigs and LaBeouf said via their lawyers in a statement to People. “While the details of the settlement will remain private, we wish each other personal happiness, professional success and peace in the future.”
PREVIOULSY, December 11, 2020: Shia LaBeouf has been sued today by his Honey Boy co-star FKA Twigs for sexual battery, and assault.
“This action has been brought not for personal gain, but to set the record straight, and to help ensure that no more women must undergo the abuse that Shia LaBeouf has inflicted on his prior romantic partners,” states the detailed and often harrowing complaint filed by the actress-musician Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. “The days in which LaBeouf can mistreat and harm women with impunity are over,” the damages-seeking document adds, citing a cycle of “relentless abuse” by the Emmy-winning actor (read it here).
Asserting, among other claims, that LaBeouf gave her a STD, Twigs is seeking a jury trial. if successful, she says she will “donate a significant portion of any monies received in this action to charities dedicated to assisting victims of domestic violence.”
Twigs and LaBeouf met when she was cast in the 2019 Alma Har’el directed Honey Boy.
Represented by attorneys Bryan Freedman and Sean Hardy under her FKA Twigs’ real name, Tahliah Barnett, real name, the action also cited similar violent behavior by LaBeouf against Karolyn Pho. Like Twigs, stylist Pho was also a former romantic partner of LaBeouf’s.
“For too long, LaBeouf has sought to excuse his reprehensible actions as the eccentricities of a free-thinking ‘artist,’” the filing declares. “Shia LaBeouf hurts women,” the five-claim suit continues. “He uses them. He abuses them, both physically and mentally. He is dangerous.”
Representatives for LaBeouf did not respond to request from Deadline for comment on today’s lawsuit. He did not respond directly to the suit in a New York Times story on Thursday but did address his overall conduct.
Having penned the script for Honey Boy from court-ordered rehab, the former Transformers star is no stranger to the courts. Now open about his struggles with substance abuse, the CAA-repped LaBeouf has been accused of “acting disorderly,” to put it politely, in recent years. The actor also has been involved in occurrences of being verbal and physically aggressive, hurling racists invectives, as well as being out and out violent on a number of occasions.
LaBeouf’s past behavior has resulted in probation and fines, so far.
