With her case against ex-partner Shia LaBeouf set to finally go to trial this fall after she accused him of sexual assault and battery in December 2020, FKA twigs is now seeking $10 million USD in damages to cover "lost wages, lost professional opportunities and emotional distress."
Attorneys for the artist born Tahliah Barnett and LaBeouf have also been at odds this week over each other's requests for obtaining their clients' private information, according to court documents obtained by In Touch. Barnett has alleged that LaBeouf is withholding relevant text messages about her that he had sent to third parties, as well as that his representation is erroneously seeking "private financial and medical information that has no bearing on the issues in this case."
As per her lawyers, LaBeouf's legal team is trying to get their hands on "the entirety of Plaintiff's medical history, going well beyond the injuries that are actually at issue" — all without explaining the necessity of knowing Barnett's "medical history, unrelated to her emotional distress or the condition transmitted to her by" LaBeouf. (Among Barnett's claims were that the actor knowingly exposed her to an STI.)
LaBeouf's attorneys, on the other hand, clearly aren't pleased with the sum of damages Barnett is seeking. "In particular, [Barnett] alleges that the release of her album was delayed due to mental anguish, and as a result she lost over $1 million not finishing her album prior to touring," the document reads. "She has not provided support for this alleged delay, the reasons behind it, or that she would have earned an extra $1 million for the album's earlier release."
The actor's legal team also argued that Barnett's "alleged severe emotional distress" at LaBeouf's hands only resulted in medical bills totalling $4,100 to a therapist. Furthermore, they've poked holes in the claims that she lost contracts and professional opportunities, writing, "Contrary to what [Barnett] alleges, she appears to have increased her profile in the years after her relationship with Shia and her career appears to be thriving." Being ordered to pay her $10 million would, conversely, be "financially ruinous" for LaBeouf.
FKA twigs is set to star in the upcoming The Crow remake and recently testified before a US Senate subcommittee about AI regulation, and the importance of the emergent technology being directly in the hands of artists "to safeguard authenticity and protect against misappropriation." She's currently developing a deepfake version of herself to interact with fans on social media.
Postponed from November 2023, the trial for the abuse case is now scheduled to begin on October 14.