FKA twigs says YouTube helped her understand what gaslighting is amid Shia LaBeouf assault lawsuit

FKA twigs has said that YouTube allowed her to understand her experience of gaslighting in the wake of her assault lawsuit against Shia LaBeouf.

In December 2020, the singer – real name Tahliah Barnett – filed a lawsuit against LaBeouf, accusing him of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress.

In response, the actor’s lawyers filed a “defendant’s answer to complaint” which declared that the actor denied “each and every allegation” made by twigs in her lawsuit.

In a new interview with The Guardian, twigs explained that she’d found comfort in online communities after speaking out with her allegations against LaBeouf.

“It’s really sad, but a lot of abusers use the same tactics,” she said. “Once you know the language, you can be like, ‘No, I’m not confused by this. This is what’s going on.’

“On reflection, it’s been very healing for me to think about the situations I’ve been in and know now that that was love-bombing and gaslighting. I’ve got the words for it. And if I feel confused, I can YouTube it. I can read about it. I can talk to people about it.”

Love-bombing is a term used to explain how romantic behaviours can transform into a manipulative dating practice in which one party uses grand gestures and constant contact to gain an upper hand.

Gaslighting describes a situation where someone convinces another person that they’re losing sense of reality and imagining things. The term was coined from the 1938 play Gas Light.

Twigs said that she was now using her experiences of speaking publicly to help other people, explaining: “I’ve got a friend who came out about being in an abusive relationship with a public figure.

“At the moment, the abuser is just laying into her online. Making Instagram accounts. Doing the absolute most to destroy what’s left of her name. I said to her the other day, ‘You need to look up what a smear campaign is. He will do anything right now to make you look bad. He will lie, he will hodgepodge bits of bad evidence.’”

Twigs’s case against LaBeouf will be heard in court next year.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, you can call the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge, on 0808 2000 247, or visit their website here.