It’s been a week since singer and actress FKA Twigs dropped a lawsuit alleging her former partner Shia LaBeouf had been abusive during the duration of their relationship together. The two had met on the set of the film Honey Boy in 2018 and dated subsequently. Now the director of that film, Alma Har’el, has commented on the matter.
As a lawsuit is ongoing, Alma Har’el did not speak on any of the specifics of the matter. The accusations FKA Twigs, aka Tahliah Barnett, made against Shia LaBeouf mention him sleeping with a gun and threatening to crash a car if she didn’t profess her love for him. The suit also accuses the actor of bragging about killing stray dogs in preparation for a role. Now, the Honey Boy director says she is standing by the victims listed in the lawsuit.
I have a deep respect for FKA Twigs’ courage and resilience. Reading what she endured left me heartbroken and I stand with her in solidarity. I’m sending my love to her, Karolyn Pho, all victims of domestic violence, and everyone who is trying to stop cycles of abuse.
She also spoke on her work with Shia LaBeouf on Honey Boy, a movie that tells LaBeouf’s semi-autobiographical story and history of drug and alcohol abuse as well as PTSD. LaBeouf wrote the project as part of his ongoing recovery and sent the script to Alma Har’el, whom he’d collaborated with on TrueLove. Now, in her recent statement (via Variety), she explained how she came to be involved in the actor’s story.
As a filmmaker and an artist, I am drawn to stories that help us develop empathy for the messy parts of the human condition. Like many of Shia’s collaborators and fans who battled substance abuse, suffered childhood trauma, and face mental illness, I am painfully aware of my past investment in his recovery. I want to send a clear message today that none of the above should excuse, minimize, or rationalize domestic violence.
Alma Har’el also says she will be donating money to FreeFrom, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and Sistah Space following the claims in the lawsuits. As for Shia LaBeouf, following the lawsuit, the actor has also addressed the claims. Since the suit dropped, he released a statement mentioning that while he feels some of the allegations are untrue, he has also said he is dealing with “alcoholism” and noted “aggression” problems and has said he is “not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel.”
In the past, Shia LaBeouf has been in trouble with the law multiple times. It was only in earlier this year that he was charged with petty theft.
Lawsuits such as the one FKA Twigs filed are rare, often coming up as part of divorce cases or when someone is trying to file a court order for protection. In the case of FKA Twigs and Shia LaBeouf, the two had been split for a while when the lawsuit was filed. They met on Honey Boy and were reportedly together through part of 2018 and the early part of 2019. By the end of that year, FKA Twigs was mentioning she was single. FKA Twigs has said a portion of any money the lawsuit yields will also be donated.
