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FKA Twigs has spoken out about the damaging effects her relationship with Shia LeBeouf left on her and is reportedly now suing him for physical, mental, and emotional abuse.

The 33-year-old musician – real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett – met the 34-year-old Transformers actor on the set of his semi-autobiographical movie Honey Boy back in 2018. They dated for nine months, before calling things off in May 2019, citing conflicting work schedules. However, the split was actually due to what went on behind the scenes…

Shia LeBeouf has been known for his bad behavior, and FKA Twigs told Louis Theroux on his BBC Radio 4 podcast, Grounded, that there was “an intense honeymoon period at the beginning”, before his behavior changed and he became abusive.

FKA Twigs said she gradually became aware of his “jealous and controlling” behavior as the relationship progressed…

“For me it was being nice to a waiter or being polite to somebody that could be seen as me flirting or want to engage in some sort of relationship with somebody else when I’m literally just ordering pasta and being polite,” she said.

“I was told that I knew what he was like, and if I loved him I wouldn’t look men in the eye. So that was my reality for a good four months towards the end of the relationship, that I wasn’t allowed to look men in the eye.”

She went on to confess that she took to looking at the ground whenever they were out together, for fear of doing something wrong and getting on his bad side. She then added that she began to isolate herself from her friends and family so she wouldn’t get into “trouble”…

“I just was living a very regimented and contained life that I felt got me in the least trouble,” she continued.

But despite all of her efforts, nothing seemed to stop him from getting jealous, which is ultimately what left her with extreme PTSD even years after the relationship ended.

“He would wake me up in the night to accuse me of all sorts of things,” she added.

“Accuse me of staring at the ceiling and thinking about ways to leave him… accusing me of wanting to be with somebody else but it would be, always – I’d say between like four and seven in the morning.

“For a long time anything that woke me up in the night, even if it was just my dog, or a noise outside, or just needing to go to the bathroom, it could trigger a really intense panic attack.

“I was left with PTSD from that, which again is just something that I don’t think we really talk about as a society just in terms of the healing when leaving, and how much work that has to be done to recover, to get back to the person that you were before.”

She isn’t the first woman to speak out about Shia LeBeouf’s behavior, as Karolyn Pho, who also features in the lawsuit, tells a similar story.

The actor has previously told The New York Times that many of the women’s allegations are false, but he wanted to give them “the opportunity to air their statements publicly and for me to accept accountability for those things I have done”.

Elsewhere, he said that he is “not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel. I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations.

“I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years,” he added.

“I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say.”

For more information on domestic abuse, including how and where to get help, visit www.thehotline.org.