We have to stop asking that question: FKA twigs on why women stay in abusive relationships

At one point King, with marked trepidation, said, “Nobody who’s been in this position likes this question, and I often wonder is it even an appropriate question to ask, and you know the question is: Why didn’t you leave?”

To this, the musician replied, “I think we have to stop asking that question. I’m going to make a stance and say that I’m not going to answer that question anymore because the question should really be to the abuser: Why are you holding someone hostage? People say, ‘Oh it can’t have been that bad, else she would have left.’ And it’s like no, it’s because it was that bad, I couldn’t leave.”

Gayle King asks FKA Twigs why didn’t she leave her relationship with Shia LaBeouf

“I’m not going to answer that question anymore because the question should really be to the abuser, why are you holding someone hostage?” pic.twitter.com/6gzXGKOiVJ

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 18, 2021

During the course of the Elle interview, Tahliah Barnett aka FKA twigs had said something similar. “People wouldn’t think that it would happen to a woman like me. The biggest misconception is, ‘Well, you’re smart. If it was that bad, why didn’t you leave?’ “It can happen to anyone.”

The two met on the sets of Honey Boy in 2018 and dated for nine months, before splitting in 2019.  In 2020, she sued him citing “relentless abuse”, sexual battery and contracting a sexually transmitted disease from LaBeouf. She claimed he was aware of it.

LaBeouf’s legal team, however, has denied allegations. His attorney said in a court filing that the actor “denies generally and specifically each and every allegation” in the complaint.