On Monday, June 24, during a pre-trial discovery conference in the long-running civil case between FKA twigs and her former boyfriend Shia LaBeouf, lawyers for twigs argued that LaBeouf’s team is “improperly seeking Plaintiff’s [FKA twigs’] private financial and medical information that has no bearing on the issues in this case.”
Per documents obtained Pitchfork, the requests include the singer and actor’s total revenue for her January 2022 mixtape, Caprisongs, her advertisements for Calvin Klein, and her work in The Crow.
“First, there is a significant invasion into Plaintiff’s privacy in asking for all of her financial information from 2017 through the present,” FKA twigs’ lawyers contend. “Defendant [Shia LaBeouf] contends it seeks the information based on a far-fetched theory that Plaintiff’s level of income is correlated to her emotional distress. Specifically, Defendant argues that if Plaintiff is working and making income, then she does not suffer from emotional distress. This is simply not true. A person’s ability to make money, particularly how much money, is not correlated to a person’s emotional distress damages. If Defendant would like to know whether Plaintiff is or is not working, and the extent of work, then Plaintiff can provide this information without revealing her finances. However, Defendant’s assertion that Plaintiff has somehow waived her financial privacy rights by seeking emotional distress damages is not supported by any case law.”
Regarding the requests for FKA twigs’ medical records, the British artist’s lawyers write: “Defendant seeks the entirety of Plaintiff’s medical history, going well beyond the injuries that are actually at issue. Plaintiff has already agreed to provide documents that relate to any damages or injuries that she is alleging occurred because of Defendant, therefore it is unclear how the remainder of documents are relevant, and not privileged.”
“As such, there has been no reason or argument presented as to why Plaintiff’s medical history, unrelated to her emotional distress or the condition transmitted to her by Defendant, is,” FKA twigs’ lawyers conclude. “Furthermore, the requests are overbroad and burdensome. As such, Defendant is not entitled to this highly private information.”
In a statement shared with Pitchfork, one of FKA twigs’ attorneys, Bryan J. Freedman, said: “While my client was led to believe that LaBeouf was on a path of taking responsibility and working a program, it is clear he intends his pattern of continuing to abuse the victim. Any suggestion that FKA Twigs’ emotional distress should be discounted because of any career success is preposterous and discounts the idea that victims should have hope for the future. Logically, without the trauma that she has suffered I can only imagine the level of success she would have achieved by now.”
