Shia LaBeouf's Ex Just Filed a Disturbing Lawsuit

One of Shia LaBeouf's former girlfriends has filed a disturbing lawsuit against him alleging regular mental and physical abuse. In response, the 34-year-old actor has acknowledged that he has a history of alcoholism, aggression, and "hurting the people closest to me," adding to the New York Times, "I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt." Coverage:

• Accuser: The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court is from 32-year-old singer FKA Twigs, aka Tahliah Barnett, reports Variety. “Shia LaBeouf hurts women,” says the lawsuit. “He uses them. He abuses them, both physically and mentally. He is dangerous.” The two dated for about a year in 2018 and 2019.
• Examples: Twigs accuses LaBeouf of slamming her against his car at a gas station and forcing her back into the vehicle. On the ride, she said he threatened to crash unless she told him she loved him, per the lawsuit. Other times, he choked and head-butted her, she says. Once, he pulled out a gun and told her he had shot stray dogs to get into the mindset of a killer as an actor, per the lawsuit, reports TMZ.

• More: Twigs says LaBeouf knowingly gave her an STD (explaining the sexual battery component of the suit), and imposed rules such as how many times per day she had to kiss him. If she fell short, he would fly off the handle, she says. She also says he slept with a gun, fearing gangs, and she was afraid to use the bathroom at night in case he shot her.
• First response: “I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel,” he writes in an email to the New York Times. “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. There is nothing else I can really say.”
• Second response: After the Times confronted LaBeouf with more details from the suit, as well as similar allegations from another former girlfriend, Karolyn Pho, the actor responded anew. "Many of these allegations are not true," he said. But he added that he owed his accusers "the opportunity to air their statements publicly and accept accountability for those things I have done.” He also said he was sober, but "not cured of my PTSD and alcoholism."
• Powerless: Twigs, a celebrity in her own right, is suing for unspecified damages but says her main point is to help other women. She became increasingly isolated because of the relationship, she tells the Times, and felt powerless to escape despite her own fame and career. “He brought me so low, below myself, that the idea of leaving him and having to work myself back up just seemed impossible."

(More Shia LaBeouf stories.)