A Los Angeles County judge has granted FKA Twigs a new trial date, September 29, 2025, in her case against ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf. The case was originally scheduled for 2023, then pushed to fall of 2024. Twigs first filed a lawsuit against LaBeouf back in 2020 alleging assault, sexual battery, and infliction of emotional distress over the course of their nearly yearlong relationship due to his “relentless abuse.” The two began dating after Twigs was cast in LaBeouf’s mostly autobiographical 2019 film, Honey Boy.
LaBeouf initially responded to and acknowledged Twigs’s charges in an email to the New York Times in 2020. “I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel,” LaBeouf wrote. “I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt.” He would then change his tone soon after through his legal team, denying “generally and specifically, each and every allegation,” Twigs asserts in the suit.
“My second worst nightmare is being forced to share with the world that I am a survivor of domestic violence,” Twigs wrote in an Instagram post addressing the filing in 2020. “My first worst nightmare is not telling anyone and knowing that I could have helped even just one person by sharing my story.”
Below, what you need to know ahead of the upcoming trial.
What are the allegations against LaBeouf?
Twigs sued LaBeouf on complaints of sexual battery, battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and gross negligence. The filing opens with a description of a 2019 incident around Valentine’s Day during which LaBeouf drove recklessly with Twigs in the car, unbuckling his seatbelt and threatening to crash unless she professed her “eternal love” for him. When he eventually pulled over into a gas station, Twigs attempted to escape but was allegedly slammed down, strangled, and forced back into the car. LaBeouf shared the incident to another woman he was cheating on Twigs with at the time, according to the lawsuit, stating he dragged Twigs out of his car by the collar.
LaBeouf is also accused of isolating her from her friends, family, and creative team in London. The alleged abuse included squeezing her to the point of bruising, requiring her to meet a certain quota of physical intimacy enforced through harassment, keeping a loaded gun in the bedroom the two shared, requiring her to sleep nude, and knowingly transmitting an STI — something the lawsuit claims he had done to multiple partners prior. The suit also outlined the experiences of another of LaBeouf’s former girlfriends, stylist Karolyn Pho. LaBeouf, while drunk, allegedly pinned Pho to a bed and headbutted her until she bled.
Why is it taking so long for the case to go to trial?
Originally scheduled for April and then November 2023, the trial was then tentatively pushed to October 14, 2024 due to LaBeouf’s “entertainment projects” as well as Twigs’s own commitments. LaBeouf’s deposition was supposed to take place October 11, but when he became “suddenly unavailable” Twigs filed a statement with the court over his failure to meet basic discovery obligations on October 18.
“It appears that LaBeouf has something to hide, as LaBeouf has suspiciously claimed he no longer has any other responsive documents in his possession or control, as he lost or misplaced his electronic devices, or destroyed relevant information prior to the initiation of this action,” the filing states in contrast to Twigs who “has produced voluminous responsive documents and substantive written responses.”
The two parties had agreed to be deposed in the same week in person, with LaBeouf going first. Each time a date was set, Twigs complied, arranging her schedule to fly from her home in London to Los Angeles while LaBeouf allegedly burdened proceedings with last-minute changes. The statement describes the behavior as “the height of gamesmanship.” LaBeouf’s legal team rebutted, arguing no such agreement ever existed and throwing the “gamesmanship” accusation right back.
Mediation in the long-running dispute seemed “hopeless” to Twigs’s lawyer, appearing before Judge Virginia Kenny in Los Angeles on October 25. “It was hopelessly hopeless? Okay,” Judge Kenny said according to Rolling Stone. Setting a new trial start for September 29, 2025, the judge required depositions for Twigs and LaBeouf to be completed by mid-January.
What does Diddy have to do with this?
While the self-described “pit bull” of Hollywood lawyers Bryan Freedman is representing FKA Twigs, LaBeouf’s legal team is led by Shawn Holley, who was recently entangled in the sprawling web of the cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs, taking place throughout both criminal and civil courts. She is no longer part of the legal team representing the embattled mogul, who stands accused of trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, and assault among other charges.
What are Twigs and LaBeouf doing now?
LaBeouf most recently appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis which specifically cast people who were “canceled” in order to not be “some woke Hollywood production,” according to Coppola, who wrote and directed the film. (The project earned $4 million in its opening weekend despite the $140 million it took to make and market.) Earlier in the year LaBeouf was confirmed into the Catholic Church with intentions of becoming a deacon. Speculation he could also be splitting from actress Mia Goth (the two share one daughter) started up once again as he was seen without his wedding ring in recent weeks. (The two had a Vegas wedding ceremony, but do not appear to be legally married.) He addressed the abuse allegations against him on an August 2022 episode of Jon Bernthal’s podcast Real Ones. “I hurt that woman,” LaBeouf said, though he did not specify Twigs by name. “And in the process of doing that, I hurt many other people, and many other people before that woman. I was a pleasure-seeking, selfish, self-centered, dishonest, inconsiderate, fearful human being.”
Twigs’s success over the years has been used as a tactic by LaBeouf’s legal team to undermine her accusation of emotional distress. His lawyers argued Twigs “has been thriving emotionally and physically as she has been working on numerous projects and making millions,” citing the artist’s 2019 album, Magdalene; her January Calvin Klein modeling campaign; her role in the (negatively reviewed) film The Crow opposite Bill Skarsgård. Since then she has appeared on the cover of British Vogue and is preparing for the release of her latest project, Eusexua, slated to drop early next year.
Twigs’s lawyers responded at the time in an email to the Cut. “Any suggestion that FKA Twigs’s emotional distress should be discounted because of any career success is preposterous and discounts the idea that victims should have hope for the future,” her representation stated. “Logically, without the trauma that she has suffered I can only imagine the level of success she would have achieved by now.”
Most recently, she appeared on the Man Enough podcast on October 28 to discuss her personal journey of healing, the physical impact of her trauma as a performer, and reclamation of self-worth. “One of the most painful things was realizing that I wasn’t special,” Twigs said. “It could have really been anyone. It was just bad luck that I got a part in a film.”
If Twigs wins her case, what could happen next?
Twigs has stated in interviews she plans to donate a “significant portion” of any monetary damages to domestic-violence charities.
Related
