FKA Twigs opens up on 'horrific' racist abuse she received while dating Robert Pattinson
FKA Twigs has opened up on the "horrific" racist abuse she received while in a relationship with Robert Pattinson.
The singer, real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett, told Louis Theroux on his Grounded podcast that alongside hateful messages she was also sent pictures of monkeys.
The 33-year-old, who dated the Twilight star from 2014 to 2017, said she believed those sending the hate thought he was their "white Prince Charming" and that he should "be with somebody white and blonde".
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She said: "It was really deeply horrific and I think it was at a time where I felt like I couldn’t really talk about it.
“I feel like if I was going through it now I would be able to talk about it and do some good with it."
The Cellophane hitmaker added that she had worked "so hard" for her success, only be called the most "hurtful and ignorant" names.
Elaborating on the social media attacks, Barnett continued: "Whatever I did at that time people would find pictures of monkeys and have me doing the same thing as the monkey.
“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.”
Pattinson previously addressed the abuse while the pair were still together in 2015.
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In an interview with NME he said: "I was talking to my dad about this and I bet him that if he looked up Nelson Mandela’s funeral on YouTube, the first comment would be a racist one. And it was, with like a million upvotes.
"What I don’t get is why. I think it’s because most normal people are not commenters – I’ve never met anyone who’s left a comment on anything. It’s just demons who live in basements."
Pattinson is now said to be dating model Suki Waterhouse, while Barnett is in a relationship with The 1975 frontman Matthew Healy.
With additional reporting by PA.
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