While Shia LaBeouf was partying on the streets of New Orleans and talking at length about his relationship to FKA Twigs last month, the actor was secretly trying to extract an “exorbitant” sum of money from his ex-girlfriend for allegedly violating terms of an “unlawful” NDA tied to their 2025 settlement agreement, according to a lawsuit FKA Twigs filed Wednesday.
In court documents filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles and obtained by Rolling Stone, the Grammy-winning singer, born Tahliah Barnett, alleged that in what was the latest instance of LaBeouf trying to “control” her “for the better part of a decade,” he had filed a “secret arbitration complaint” last December over an interview she gave to The Hollywood Reporter in October.
At the time of the interview, the Eusexua singer had recently settled her 2020 lawsuit against LaBeouf, whom she accused of sexual battery, assault, and mental abuse over the course of their one-year relationship between 2018 and 2019. Asked whether she felt “safe” after the ordeal, Barnett answered candidly.
“No, I wouldn’t say I feel safe,” Barnett said. “I feel really passionate about being involved with organizations such as Sistah Space and No More, to help survivors in any way that I can. I think it’s less about me at this point and more about looking forward. Just, you know, moving on with my life.”
That “laudable, generic, and benign” statement, the lawsuit claims, was then used by LaBeouf and his attorneys to seek “exorbitant monies from her for her supposed violation of the settlement agreement’s (unlawful) NDA provisions.”
A lawyer for LaBeouf did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
In court documents, Barnett’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, who represented Britney Spears in her conservatorship battle, argues that LaBeouf is blatantly trying to silence Barnett from speaking about her experience in direct violation of California’s Stand Together Against Non-Disclosure Act (STAND Act), which prohibits NDAs in settlement agreements arising from sexual assault and harassment cases.
“This is a case about justice and law, not money,” Rosengart writes in the 22-page filing. “[She] has nothing to gain from this case either professionally or financially. She files this action to right a wrong, and also on behalf of other women who are the victims of sexual and domestic violence who do not have the resources to speak out and defend themselves from predators. In so doing, she seeks to ensure that survivors of sexual misconduct are not bullied or silenced like she was by agreements that violate California law and public policy.”
The lawsuit argues that LaBeouf’s arbitration claim is legally-frivolous on three grounds: Barnett’s vague statement that didn’t mention LaBeouf would not violate any terms of an NDA even if it was enforceable; the NDA in itself is unlawful; and due to LaBeouf’s own conduct, he’d be unable to prove any recoverable “damages” resulting from any alleged breach of the NDA.
Beyond the general alleged unlawful nature of the NDA, Rosengart highlights the “absurdity” and “unworkability” of some of its provisions, which attempt to “restrict the manner in which Ms. Barnett could donate to charities related to domestic and/or sexual violence or abuse,” according to the lawsuit.
“In other words, the settlement seeks not only to silence Ms. Barnett about her own story as a survivor but also to silence her from supporting other survivors as well,” the suit continues.
According to Barnett’s lawsuit, after she sent an initial Feb. 4 response to LaBeouf’s attorneys arguing these points, his attorneys allegedly claimed that LaBeouf was “not covered by the STAND Act because he was supposedly sued by Ms. Barnett in 2020 only for sexual ‘battery,’ not sexual ‘assault’ and that the STAND Act does not cover him as a sexual batterer.”
Furthermore, the lawsuit contends that while LaBeouf’s attorneys were still aggressively pursuing their position and seeking monetary compensation from Barnett, a partying LaBeouf was arrested in New Orleans on assault charges for allegedly punching two bar patrons. He bailed out of jail the next day, and was seen hours later back on the streets enjoying Mardi Gras.
Later that month, LaBeouf appeared in a YouTube interview where unprompted, he voluntarily told the host about his relationship with Barnett — “materially breaching the very confidentiality provisions that he had just contended were fully enforceable against Ms. Barnett,” the lawsuit claims.
Barnett’s lawsuit claims that the singer felt that she had no choice but to move forward with a lawsuit against LaBeouf because while he agreed to drop his own arbitration claim earlier this month, he “still refused to acknowledge, however, that the NDA provisions are illegal and unenforceable.”
The singer is seeking declaratory relief from a judge, decreeing that the NDA tied to their settlement agreement is “unlawful, invalid, unenforceable;” and her attorneys’ fees related to bringing the lawsuit.
“If Ms. Barnett — a successful artist and cultural icon — can be silenced and intimidated for years, then every woman who has been the victim of sexual abuse can also be silenced, especially those with less resources or access to the system,” the complaint states. “This lawsuit will determine whether a celebrity abuser’s fame and money can override the important rights enacted by the Legislature.”
