FKA Twigs knew she needed to leave Shia LaBeouf when he allegedly "basically strangled" her in front of a group of people.
FKA Twigs
The 33-year-old singer filed a lawsuit against her former boyfriend last month, suing him for sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress during the course of their brief relationship in 2019, and the 'Cellophane' hitmaker had a "massive wake-up call" when she rang a helpline for abused women and was quickly offered support.
Twigs had initially been "really disheartened" after bystanders failed to intervene when the 'Transformers' actor allegedly threw her against his car at a gas station and started "basically strangling" her.
She recalled on Louis Theroux's 'Grounded' podcast: "Nobody did anything. That was a really low moment for me because I felt like I would never be believed.
"Nobody stepped in. For me, that was a real moment of like, 'Okay, no one is going to believe me, because I'm the type of person if I saw something happening, I will go and help somebody, that's just who I am.
"But to have people see me being treated in that way and not do anything — I felt really disheartened.
"I remember going back to where I was staying and calling an abused women's helpline ... and her reaction to me was so serious, and she was like, 'Okay, from what you've said it feels to me like you're in an unsafe place. Does your abuser know where you are? Can you get to a safe place? Who have you told about this? Is there somewhere else that you can stay?' "
The 'Two Weeks' singer found the call to be as procedural as calling a paramedic to a medical emergency and "very black-and-white" but it gave her the strength to come forward and speak up about the alleged abuse.
She added: "It felt really like, 'Whoa, somebody that I don't even know, that doesn't even know that I'm a singer or anything like that' — somebody is taking this so seriously and wants to get me somewhere safe. That was a really massive wake-up call.
"That's the time when I realised.
"I need a lot of help to get out of this. And that's when I started messaging, I messaged my best friend and I said, 'I'm in a really abusive relationship, and it's really bad.' I got a therapist who I started seeing twice a week."
A few months later, the singer was "able to leave, and leave for good."
After Twigs’ lawsuit was filed, the 'Honey Boy' actor made a public statement admitting he has been “abusive to myself and everyone around me for years”.
He said: “I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behaviour made them feel. I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalisations. 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.”
However, the Hollywood star insisted that “many of these allegations are not true”, but also said he owed the women “the opportunity to air their statements publicly and accept accountability for those things I have done”.
Tagged in Shia LaBeouf Louis Theroux FKA Twigs