FKA twigs on racist abuse she received while dating Robert Pattinson: ‘It was deeply horrific’

Artist says fans viewed the Twilight star as their ‘Prince Charming’ and thought he should be with a white woman

FKA twigs has spoken of the “deeply horrific” racist abuse she received while dating Twilight star Robert Pattinson.

The artist, 33, began dating Pattinson, 34, in 2014. They separated in 2017.

In an interview with Louis Theroux on his Grounded podcast, twigs, born Tahliah Barnett, suggested some of Pattinson’s fans viewed him as their “white Prince Charming”.

“It was really deeply horrific and I think it was at a time where I felt like I couldn't really talk about it,” she said.

”I feel like if I was going through it now I would be able to talk about it and do some good with it. But I don't know whether it was to do with my age or because of the social climate or being black and from Cheltenham and from a low-income family, and having to genuinely work twice as hard at everything I do to get a seat at the table”

Twigs said trolls would find photos of her and then post them next to pictures of monkeys doing the same thing: “Say if I was wearing a red dress they would have a monkey in a red dress or I was on a bike they would find a monkey on a bike.”

In the same interview, twigs described the abuse she alleges she suffered while in a relationship with actor Shia LaBeouf.

Twigs, who filed a lawsuit against LaBeouf in December last year, claims the actor would berate her when he thought she was looking at other men, and that he assigned her a “quota” for the number of kisses and affectionate gestures she was supposed to give him.

In an email sent on 10 December, LaBeouf issued a response to the allegations made by twigs. He said that “many of these allegations [made by twigs] are not true”, but that he owed twigs and Karolyn Pho, another woman whose claims were included in the lawsuit, “the opportunity to air their statements publicly and [for me to] accept accountability for those things I have done”.

Twigs said she had been inspired to speak out after reading reports of women who had essentially become “trapped” in their homes with abusive partners during the pandemic.

The full episode of Grounded with Louis Theroux is available now on BBC Sounds.

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.