British musician FKA Twigs has filed a brand new lawsuit in opposition to her ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf, alleging that he used an “illegal” non-disclosure settlement (NDA) in an try and silence her.
The authorized dispute follows allegations made in 2020 by FKA Twigs, whose authorized title is Tahliah Barnett, who accused LaBeouf of assault, sexual battery and infliction of emotional misery. She dismissed her case in July 2025 in opposition to the 39-year-old actor.
In a authorized grievance filed Wednesday, Barnett, 38, alleges that LaBeouf tried to silence her by means of a settlement doc that violated California’s Stand Collectively In opposition to Non-Disclosure (STAND) Act, which prohibits confidentiality clauses in settlements involving sexual assault, sexual harassment or associated types of sexual discrimination.
Within the lawsuit, obtained by Selection, NBC Information and Rolling Stone, Barnett’s attorneys allege that following the 2020 case, LaBeouf “extracted a settlement” that included phrases deemed “illegal” underneath the STAND Act.
The swimsuit additional alleges that in 2025, LaBeouf filed a “secret arbitration grievance” looking for an “exorbitant” sum of cash for an alleged breach of the 2020 settlement.
LaBeouf alleged that Barnett violated the NDA in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, when she was requested if she felt a “sense of security with the chapter behind her” after dismissing the case.
“No, I wouldn’t say I really feel protected,” she responded. “I really feel actually enthusiastic about being concerned with organizations equivalent to Sistah House and No Extra, to assist survivors in any means that I can. I feel it’s much less about me at this level and extra about wanting ahead. Simply, you understand, shifting on with my life.”
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The swimsuit provides that “even when the NDA provisions at problem had been authorized,” Barnett’s statements within the October 2025 interview had been “laudable, generic and benign.”
“LaBeouf’s marketing campaign of intimidation and abuse of the authorized system denigrates not simply Ms. Barnett however each survivor of sexual abuse on this State,” the swimsuit reads.
“Because the California Legislature has made clear, survivors ought to have the correct to inform their tales with out concern or coercion, and California legislation doesn’t and should not enable abusers and bullies to silence them by means of secret agreements containing unconscionable, illegal gag orders.
“In different phrases, the settlement seeks not solely to silence Ms. Barnett about her personal story as a survivor but additionally to silence her from supporting different survivors as nicely.”
Attorneys for Barnett declare that she was “compelled” to file the brand new movement as a solution to fight LaBeouf’s “faulty, preposterous authorized place: that he’s in some way not lined by the STAND Act as a result of he was supposedly sued by Ms. Barnett in 2020 just for sexual ‘battery,’ not sexual ‘assault’ and the STAND Act doesn’t cowl him as a sexual batterer despite the fact that, as matter of each widespread sense and legislation, the STAND Act covers each.”
Barnett is looking for declaratory aid from a decide and lawyer charges associated to the case.
“If Ms. Barnett — a profitable artist and cultural icon — will be silenced and intimidated for years, then each lady who has been the sufferer of sexual abuse can be silenced, particularly these with much less sources or entry to the system,” the grievance states.
“This lawsuit will decide whether or not a celeb abuser’s fame and cash can override the necessary rights enacted by the Legislature.”
Matthew Rosengart, a lawyer for Barnett, mentioned his shopper “refuses to be bullied anymore.”
“This motion was taken in response to Mr. LaBeouf’s try and bully and intimidate twigs by means of a frivolous and illegal secret arbitration he filed in opposition to her in December through which he sought to extract cash from her,” Rosengart mentioned in an announcement to NBC Information.
Final July, LaBeouf and Barnett launched a joint assertion issued by their attorneys after the 2020 case was dismissed.
“Dedicated to forging a constructive path ahead, we’ve agreed to settle our case out of courtroom,” LaBeouf and Barnett mentioned. “Whereas the small print of the settlement will stay non-public, we want one another private happiness, skilled success and peace sooner or later.”
The 2 met and have become a pair in 2018 after Barnett was solid in a supporting position in Honey Boy, an autobiographical movie about LaBeouf’s upbringing as a baby actor.
Barnett’s new authorized submitting comes as LaBeouf has been ordered by a New Orleans decide to enroll in drug and alcohol rehabilitation after he was charged with two counts of battery over an alleged assault outdoors a bar throughout Mardi Gras.
Orleans Parish Felony Courtroom Decide Simone Levine ordered LaBeouf to undergo weekly drug checks, together with one on the spot within the courthouse, and set a US$100,000 bond. LaBeouf agreed, and his lawyer mentioned the check didn’t present unlawful substances in his system.
The New Orleans Police Division beforehand mentioned a workers member had tried to take away LaBeouf from a enterprise however the actor hit one man a number of instances with closed fists. They alleged the Transformers actor was inflicting a disturbance and turning into more and more aggressive at a enterprise on Royal Avenue early on Feb. 17.
LaBeouf posted bond and has not but formally entered a plea to the costs.
LaBeouf and his representatives haven’t publicly commented on Barnett’s authorized submitting as of this writing.
— with information from The Related Press
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