"People say, 'Oh it can't have been that bad, else she would have left.' And it's like no, it's because it was that bad, I couldn't leave," she said. (File) British musician FKA twigs had filed a civil lawsuit last year alleging actor Shia LaBeouf of sexual battery and assault. According to Reuters, the civil lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in December, sought unspecified damages for alleged sexual battery, assault, and emotional distress. The musician also accused LaBeouf of emotional abuse during their year-long relationship in 2019.
Now, the singer has given her first-ever interview with journalist Gayle King on CBS This Morning’s broadcast on Thursday.
At one point King, with marked trepidation, said, “Nobody who’s been in this position likes this question, and I often wonder is it even an appropriate question to ask, and you know the question is: Why didn’t you leave?”
To this, the musician replied, “I think we have to stop asking that question. I’m going to make a stance and say that I’m not going to answer that question anymore because the question should really be to the abuser: Why are you holding someone hostage? People say, ‘Oh it can’t have been that bad, else she would have left.’ And it’s like no, it’s because it was that bad, I couldn’t leave.”
Gayle King asks FKA Twigs why didn’t she leave her relationship with Shia LaBeouf
“I’m not going to answer that question anymore because the question should really be to the abuser, why are you holding someone hostage?” pic.twitter.com/6gzXGKOiVJ
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 18, 2021
During the course of the Elle interview, Tahliah Barnett aka FKA twigs had said something similar. “People wouldn’t think that it would happen to a woman like me. The biggest misconception is, ‘Well, you’re smart. If it was that bad, why didn’t you leave?’ “It can happen to anyone.”
The two met on the sets of Honey Boy in 2018 and dated for nine months, before splitting in 2019. In 2020, she sued him citing “relentless abuse”, sexual battery and contracting a sexually transmitted disease from LaBeouf. She claimed he was aware of it.
LaBeouf’s legal team, however, has denied allegations. His attorney said in a court filing that the actor “denies generally and specifically each and every allegation” in the complaint.