Shia LaBeouf just settled a lawsuit against his ex. Her allegations are the tip of the iceberg.

Shia LaBeouf's career has long been eclipsed by controversy, but the past few years have seen the actor facing some of his most serious allegations to date.

This week, Shia LaBeouf and his ex-partner FKA Twigs settled the high-profile sexual battery and abuse lawsuit that Twigs filed in 2020.

The case included serious allegations of physical abuse, emotional distress and knowingly transmitting an STI.

The settlement terms remain confidential, but both of their attorneys released a joint statement expressing their intent to move forward amicably:

"Committed to forging a constructive path forward, we have agreed to settle our case out of court. While the details of the settlement will remain private, we wish each other personal happiness, professional success and peace in the future," their statement read.

This isn't the only time LaBeouf has made headlines of late.

In May, a documentary premiering at Cannes, titled Slauson Rec and directed by Leo Lewis O'Neil, chronicled the rise and chaotic fall of LaBeouf's experimental theatre collective in Los Angeles, which ran between 2018 and 2020.

The documentary captures LaBeouf as a volatile and domineering presence, as he is seen berating, screaming at, and even physically confronting his students.

"Am I f***ed up? Yes. Is my process ugly and disgusting? Yes," Shia told The Hollywood Reporter on the Cannes red carpet.

Shia LaBeouf walks the red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival. Image: Getty.

"Have I done horrible s**t in the past that I'm going to have to make amends for the rest of my life? Yes."

The film reignited debates about the actor's legacy, past charges and mounting allegations.

Early in his career, LaBeouf was hailed as a generational talent. He was described as the "next big movie star", and his early roles in the Transformers franchise and Indiana Jones were huge box-office hits.

But his career started to nosedive after consistent off-screen controversies ranging from arrests for disorderly conduct and public intoxication to volatile outbursts and abuse allegations levelled by his ex-partners.

The claims about Shia's worrying behaviour go back over two decades, so we've rounded up some of the most concerning arrests, charges and allegations to date.

2005: Shia LaBeouf was charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

In February 2005, LaBeouf was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he hit his neighbour's car during a road rage incident.

LaBeouf allegedly rammed his car into the back of his neighbour's vehicle because it was blocking his driveway. After the collision, he allegedly threatened the neighbour with a kitchen knife.

2007: The actor was arrested for trespassing.

In November 2007, he was arrested for trespassing in a Chicago Walgreens after refusing to leave when asked by security.

He was released on bail, and the charges were later dropped.

A young Shia LaBeouf's star was rising in 2007. Image: Getty.

2008: The actor was arrested for drunk driving.

On July 27, 2008, LaBeouf was arrested in Hollywood on suspicion of drunk driving after a car crash that left him and two women injured.

He refused a field sobriety test and police later determined the accident was not his fault, but his licence was suspended for refusing the test.

2014: Mia Wasikowska shares an unsettling experience working with Shia LaBeouf.

Australian actress Mia Wasikowska spoke about her difficulties working with LaBeouf on the set of the 2012 film Lawless.

"He's a very method actor, and so I was on the receiving end of the method," she told Huffington Post in 2014.

"You meet so many different people, and sometimes you connect with them… and sometimes you don't. And you just have to let them do their thing and hope it doesn't affect you too deeply."

Shia LaBeouf, Mia Wasikowska and Dane Dehaan attend the Lawless premiere. Image: Getty.

Director John Hillcoat confirmed Mia's experience with Shia's acting style. "The way they began was unfortunate, because he did take it too far," Hillcoat told Complex.

"He showed up when she first arrived and was overenthusiastic… he got carried away and carved their character names and a heart on her door."

This incident reportedly unsettled Wasikowska and required intervention from the production team.

LaBeouf was aware of the effect he was having on the young actress. "She was calling her attorney, like, 'Get me the [bleep] out of here'… Mia was ready to walk away from the movie," he told Page Six.

"I was really pretty aggressive about [it], and not in any kind of weird, strange way, but I don't think she had ever experienced anything like that."

2014: The actor was arrested for disrupting a performance of Cabaret.

In June 2014, LaBeouf disrupted a Broadway performance of Cabaret by standing up, shouting, and reportedly smacking its star, Alan Cumming, on the bottom.

"He was wasted from the second he walked into the thing," Cumming later reflected to Conan O'Brien. "There was an atmosphere because somebody seemed to be a crazy person."

Shia was arrested for disorderly conduct, harassment and criminal trespass. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour offence for disorderly conduct and was sentenced to alcohol-abuse treatment.

2015: Shia LaBeouf's public altercation with girlfriend Mia Goth.

Shia started dating Mia Goth in 2012 after meeting on the set of Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac: Vol. II.

At that time, Shia was 26 years old and Mia was 18.

In 2015, LaBeouf and Goth were filmed having a heated argument outside a hotel in Germany.

In the footage released by Entertainment Tonight, LaBeouf is heard telling some German men, "I don't want to touch a woman, I don't want to hit a woman, but I'm being pushed."

Watch the altercation below. Post continues after video.

He was then heard saying "If I'd have stayed there, I would have killed her," while speaking to bystanders who intervened and offered him a ride to the airport.

The relationship between Shia and Mia has been described as tumultuous, with public arguments and reconciliations, but Goth has never accused LaBeouf of abuse.

Goth reconciled with the actor in 2021, supported him during his rehab stint and the couple welcomed a daughter in 2022.

2017: Shia LaBeouf was arrested in a racist incident.

LaBeouf has reportedly been arrested more than ten times, with incidents often involving alcohol, aggression, and confrontations with police or the public.

But an incident in July 2017 drew the biggest headlines.

LaBeouf was arrested in Savannah, Georgia, while filming The Peanut Butter Falcon. The charges included public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and obstruction after he approached a passer-by for a cigarette and became belligerent when they refused.

Shia LaBeouf attends The Peanut Butter Falcon premiere. Image: Getty.

During his arrest, LaBeouf was caught on police bodycam footage making a series of racist and profane remarks, particularly targeting a Black police officer.

LaBeouf also claimed he was being arrested "because he was white" and continued to hurl insults and profanity at the officers.

The footage of the incident quickly went viral, sparking widespread condemnation.

LaBeouf issued a public apology on social media, stating, "I am deeply ashamed of my behaviour and make no excuses for it. My outright disrespect for authority is problematic to say the least, and completely destructive to say the worst. It is a new low."

In a 2018 cover story for Esquire, LaBeouf expressed further regret over the altercation. "What went on in Georgia was mortifying. White privilege and desperation and disaster," he said.

"It came from a place of self-centered delusion... I f**ked up."

LaBeouf ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of obstruction and was placed on a year's probation. The charges of public drunkenness were later dropped.

2020: The abuse allegations from FKA Twigs and lawsuit.

In December 2020, British singer FKA Twigs (real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett) filed a lawsuit against LaBeouf, alleging sexual battery, assault and relentless emotional abuse during their nine-month relationship, which began after they met on the set of his film Honey Boy in 2018.

The lawsuit detailed disturbing claims: LaBeouf allegedly choked her, threw her against a car, knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease, and subjected her to psychological manipulation, including controlling her clothing and isolating her from friends and family.

LaBeouf initially responded by denying many of the allegations but admitted, "I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I'm ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt".

The legal battle has been contentious. FKA Twigs' legal team has accused LaBeouf of evasive tactics, producing minimal evidence and missing depositions, while his lawyers have sought access to her private records and questioned her claims of emotional distress.

Singer FKA Twigs at The BRIT Awards in 2020. Image: Getty.

The lawsuit was settled on July 21, 2025.

In an interview with ELLE, FKA Twigs has described the relationship as "calculated, systematic, tricky, and mazelike," alleging that LaBeouf used a variety of manipulative tactics to control her.

She recounted that he pressured her to sleep naked, claiming that if she didn't, she was withholding herself from him.

She alleged his behaviour included love bombing, gaslighting, social isolation and sleep deprivation. She likened the experience to the analogy of a frog in slowly boiling water, saying, "That was my experience being with [LaBeouf]".

She was not allowed to look other men in the eye or interact with them, even in innocuous social settings.

"For me, it was being nice to a waiter or being polite to somebody that could be seen as me flirting or want to engage in some sort of relationship with somebody else when I'm literally just ordering pasta and being polite," she told Louis Theroux's Grounded podcast.

She emphasised the gradual, insidious nature of domestic abuse. "It's a real gradual step-by-step process to get somebody to a place where they lose themselves so much that they accept or feel like they deserve to be treated in that way," she told CBS This Morning.

A particularly harrowing incident described in her lawsuit involved LaBeouf allegedly strangling her and threatening her during a Valentine's Day trip, followed by further physical abuse and reckless driving while demanding declarations of love.

The singer met Shia on the set of Honey Boy. Image: Getty.

On Jon Bernthal's Real Ones podcast, LaBeouf acknowledged his harmful behaviour towards FKA Twigs.

"I hurt that woman. And in the process of doing that, I hurt many other people, and many other people before that woman. I was a pleasure-seeking, selfish, self-centered, dishonest, inconsiderate, fearful human being," he said.

"I f—ed up bad. Like crash and burn type s—. [I] hurt a lot of people, and I'm fully aware of that. And I'm going to owe for the rest of my life... I have a long list of people that I need to make amends to."

Despite these admissions, LaBeouf has denied the specific allegations made by FKA Twigs in her lawsuit.

2020: The allegations made by his ex-grilfriend, Karolyn Pho.

Shia's former girlfriend, Karolyn Pho, a stylist and costume designer, was named in the same lawsuit as FKA Twigs.

She has accused LaBeouf of physical and emotional abuse during their relationship. Specifically, Pho claims that LaBeouf once drunkenly pinned her to a bed and headbutted her so hard that she bled.

She also described controlling and manipulative behaviour similar to what FKA Twigs reported.

"Shia LaBeouf hurts women. He uses them. He abuses them, both physically and mentally. He is dangerous," the lawsuit documentation states.

Pho also described LaBeouf's intense jealousy and controlling behaviour. Both Pho and FKA Twigs said that LaBeouf disliked when they looked at or spoke with male waiters, and that this was part of a broader pattern of possessiveness and emotional manipulation.

2020: Sia came forward to share her experience with the actor.

Shortly after the lawsuit became public, Australian singer Sia also accused LaBeouf of emotional harm, calling him a "pathological liar" who "conned" her into an adulterous relationship.

She posted on Twitter in December 2020:

"I too have been hurt emotionally by Shia, a pathological liar, who conned me into an adulterous relationship claiming to be single. I believe he's very sick and have compassion for him AND his victims. Just know, if you love yourself — stay safe."

Sia performs onstage at 2016 Coachella. Image: Getty.

Sia also added a message of support directly to FKA Twigs, saying, "This is very courageous and I'm very proud of you."

While the exact nature of Sia and LaBeouf's relationship remains unclear, her statements added weight to the chorus of voices describing LaBeouf's manipulative behaviour.

Shia and Sia first met when LaBeouf was cast to star in the music video for Sia's song 'Elastic Heart' in 2015.

2022: The Don't Worry Darling controversy.

In August 2022, Olivia Wilde claimed she fired Shia LaBeouf from Don't Worry Darling to protect lead actress Florence Pugh.

"His process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions. He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don't personally believe that is conducive to the best performances. I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work," she told Variety.

On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Wilde claimed that LaBeouf asked him to choose between himself and Pugh.

"Once it became clear that it was not a tenable working relationship, I was given an ultimatum. I chose my actress — which I'm very happy I did… He gave me the ultimatum of him or Florence, and I chose Florence," she said.

The controversial final cast of Don't Worry Darling. Image: Getty.

LaBeouf publicly disputed Wilde's version of events. He wrote a lengthy letter to Wilde, published by Variety, in which he insisted he was not fired but quit the film due to a lack of rehearsal time and creative differences.

"Firing me never took place, Olivia. And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth," he wrote.

LaBeouf backed up his claims by providing Variety with screenshots of text exchanges and a video message from Wilde, in which she asked him to stay on the project and suggested that Pugh needed a "wake-up call".

The drama didn't end there. Pugh's minimal promotion of the film and her absence from press events fuelled rumours of a rift between her and Wilde, potentially over LaBeouf's early involvement in the film.

On Shia's next movie, Francis Ford Coppola's 2024 film Megalopolis, he later made critical comments about working with his co-star, Adam Driver.

"Coppola is filming and Adam will do a take and then he'll go back and watch playback on the monitor. That's his way. But what that is is a lack of trust," he told The Hollywood Reporter.

This isn't the first time Shia has been critical. Harrison Ford once referred to him as a "f****** idiot" for his comments criticising his own film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

2025: The documentary Slauson Rec premieres at Cannes.

In May 2025, LaBeouf returned to the spotlight with Slauson Rec, a documentary by Leo Lewis O'Neil that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film chronicles LaBeouf's experimental theatre group in Los Angeles, offering an unrelenting look at his volatile teaching methods and interpersonal dynamics.

The documentary does not shy away from depicting LaBeouf's aggression and emotional volatility — scenes show him berating, intimidating, and even physically confronting students.

LaBeouf himself attended the premiere and, in interviews, expressed mixed feelings, saying he was both "disgusted" and "happy" about the film's honest depiction.

The film's unflinching scenes reportedly led to around 30 audience members walking out during its Cannes screening.

Feature image: Getty.