Matty Healy praises girlfriend FKA Twigs following Shia LaBeouf lawsuit

14 December 2020, 13:25

Matty Healy praises girlfriend FKA Twigs following Shia LaBeouf lawsuit
Matty Healy praises girlfriend FKA Twigs following Shia LaBeouf lawsuit. Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images for KROQ, Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Jazmin Duribe

By Jazmin Duribe

Last week, Twigs sued her ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf, accusing him of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress.

Matty Healy has praised his girlfriend FKA Twigs (real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett) after it was revealed that the 'Cellophane' singer had filed a lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf for his alleged abusive behaviour throughout their almost year-long relationship.

On Sunday (Dec 13), The 1975 frontman shared a photo of FKA Twigs (who is thought to have started dating Matty in January 2020) smiling brightly on Instagram. He captioned it: "legend, icon and loml [love of my life]," alongside a number of emojis.

The comment section was flooded with positive and supportive comments, including one from Matty's mother actress Denise Welch, who wrote: "So proud."

READ MORE: The 1975's Matty Healy called out for "problematic" coronavirus joke

On Friday (Dec 11), the New York Times reported that Twigs had bravely filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against her ex Shia LaBeouf, accusing him of allegedly being emotionally, physically and sexually abusive. Twigs also alleges that the actor "knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease".

In an email to the New York Times, LaBeouf responded to the allegations. He said: "I'm not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel. 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."

LaBeouf's ex-girlfriend, stylist Karolyn Pho, has also accused him of abuse. Meanwhile, singer Sia claimed LaBeouf had hurt her emotionally and "conned" her into an "adulterous relationship claiming to be single".

FKA Twigs Tweets
FKA Twigs Tweets. Picture: @FKAtwigs via Twitter

FKA Twigs has since said that she hopes speaking publicly about her relationship will help others. She tweeted: "It may be surprising to you to learn that i was in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. it was hard for me to process too, during and after i never thought something like this would happen to me.

"Which is why i have decided it’s important for me to talk about it and try to help people understand that when you are under the coercive control of an abuser or in an intimate partner violent relationship leaving doesn’t feel like a safe or achievable option. i hope that by sharing my experience i can truly help others feel like they are not alone and shed some light on how those who are worried somebody they care about may be in an abusive relationship can help because i understand it can be confusing and hard to know what to do.

"The statistics on domestically abusive and intimate partner violence relationships are shocking and during covid i have been really anxious because i know many victims will have been literally trapped with their abusers with no relief or way to get out. my second worst nightmare is being forced to share with the world that i am a survivor of domestic violence my first worst nightmare is not telling anyone and knowing that i could have helped even just one person by sharing my story."