FKA Twigs‘ lawyers denounced Shia LaBeouf‘s request for her “highly private” records. The news arrives ahead of the October trial for Twigs‘ “relentless abuse” lawsuit against LaBeouf.
The singer, whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, accused LaBeouf of sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress during their relationship. The suit also includes similar allegations from Karolyn Pho, a stylist, and another ex-partner of LaBeouf who accused the actor of drunkenly pinning her to a bed and head-butting her.
According to court documents filed on Monday at the Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by People, attorneys for Barnett said that LaBeouf’s lawyers are “improperly seeking Plaintiff’s private financial and medical information that has no bearing on the issues in this case.”
His team “seeks the entirety of Plaintiff’s medical history, going well beyond the injuries that are actually at issue” in the case, but failed to explain why Barnett’s “medical history, unrelated to her emotional distress or the condition transmitted to her by” the actor is required.
“Furthermore, the requests are overbroad and burdensome,” the filing stated. “As such, Defendant is not entitled to this highly private information.” Barnett’s lawyers said the singer has already provided more than 1,300 pages of documents and submitted to a psychotherapy exam for the upcoming trial scheduled for Oct. 4.
Barnett sued LaBeouf in December 2020, and claimed he tried to choke her multiple times, including once during an attack at a gas station in February 2019 during which LaBeouf “threw Tahliah against the car and attempted to strangle her violently while screaming in her face.”
The suit also claims that earlier that day, the actor threw Barnett to the ground outside a hotel they had visited for Valentine’s Day, and on the ride home, he was driving “maniacally” when he removed his seatbelt and threatened “to crash the car unless Tahliah professed her eternal love for him.”
“It may be surprising to you to learn that I was in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. It was hard for me to process, too, during and after,” Barnett wrote in a statement on Instagram that released with her filing. “I never thought something like this would happen to me. Which is why I have decided it’s important for me to talk about it and try to help people understand that when you are under the coercive control of an abuser or in an intimate partner violent relationship, leaving doesn’t feel like a safe or achievable option.”
