Actress-singer FKA Twigs, real name Tahliah Barnett, has taken her former romantic partner Shia LaBeouf back to court in the hopes of overturning what her legal team described as an “illegal” NDA that bars her from discussing the abuse she allegedly endured by his hand.
Barnett and LaBeouf entered romantic relationship in 2018 while shooting the actor’s semi-autobiographical film Honey Boy. In 2020, she filed a lawsuit against him in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming the actor engaged in routine sexual battery, assault, and emotional abuse throughout their relationship. LaBeouf ultimately denied her allegations and the lawsuit nearly went to trial before the two parties reached a joint settlement in July 2024. In December of last year, Barnett claims she received an arbitration demand from LaBeouf’s legal team, accusing her of breaching the settlement’s NDA due to an interview in which she said, “I wouldn’t feel safe” with the lawsuit now behind her, per The Hollywood Reporter (THR).
The arbitration was later dismissed, but the settlement stemming from the case and subsequent legal action is now the subject of a lawsuit from FKA twigs. She claims that LaBeouf is trying to illegally prohibit her from discussing issues of sexual violence and sharing any information about acts relating to her own experiences of alleged sexual abuse by the actor. FKA twigs, in the complaint filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks a court order that would block LaBeouf from enforcing portions of the nondisclosure agreement, which she asserts violate California law.
FKA twigs, whose real name is Tahliah Barnett, “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,” writes Mathew Rosengart, a lawyer for the singer-songwriter, in the complaint. “In so doing, she seeks to ensure that survivors of sexual misconduct are not bullied or silenced like she was.”
Current California law currently prohibits nondisclosure agreements for cases of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination stemming from non-felony offenses – a product of the STAND Act passed in the wake of #MeToo. The law aims to prevent victims from being forced into settlements by wealthier offenders.
“Uunder the deal reached by Barnett and LaBeouf, the singer is restricted not only from disclosing information about the acts relating to her own experience of sexual abuse but also from discussing the issue in general terms,” added THR, “The lawsuit, which doesn’t seek damages and notes that the case is ‘about justice and law, not money,’ claims those terms violate the STAND Act.”
LaBeouf’s legal team has argued that the STAND Act does not apply in this case because Barnett only brought a claim of sexual battery in her 2020 lawsuit, not sexual assault.
“LaBeouf’s preposterous argument should offend every citizen of California,” the lawsuit reads. “In addition to defying common sense, it is also legally-erroneous because assault is a precondition of battery.”
Barnett’s legal action against LaBeouf comes at a difficult time for the actor, who was “arrested and charged with two counts of simple battery on February 17, after allegedly getting into a brawl during a Mardi Gras event in the French Quarter of New Orleans,” Breitbart News reported.
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