FKA Twigs sat down for a television interview with Gayle King — her first since announcing that she is suing her ex-boyfriend, Shia LaBeouf, for sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress.
FKA Twigs, real name, Tahlia Barnett, filed the lawsuit more than a year after splitting with the Hollywood actor.
Appearing on CBS This Morning, King asked her: “Nobody who’s been in this position likes this question, and I often wonder if it’s even appropriate to ask… why didn’t you leave?”
The singer responded: “I know that you’re asking it out of love, but like, I’m just going to make a stance and say I’m not going to answer that question anymore because the question should really be to the abuser: ‘Why are you holding someone hostage with abuse?’
“People say, ‘Oh, it can’t have been that bad, because she would’ve left.’ And it’s like, no, because it was that bad, I couldn’t leave.”
In the lawsuit, the singer recalls an incident where she woke up to see LaBeouf towering over her. According to the lawsuit, she alleged that he violently squeezed her arms against her will and choked her. As he was strangling her, he was whispering, “If you don’t stop you are going to lose me,” the lawsuit states.
The alleged incident took place on Valentine’s Day, 2019.
“I’d like to be able to raise awareness on the tactics that abusers use to control you and take away your agency,” FKA twigs, real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett, said via the NY Times.
LaBeouf has denied the allegations against him.
