Pop Star Keisha Buchanan, Member of Girl Group Sugababes, Was ‘Beaten and Controlled by Ex' for 3 Years, Court Hears
Keisha Buchanan topped the charts in the Sugababes with songs including "Round Round," "Push The Button" and "About You Now"
The 40-year-old singer's ex-partner Taiwo Leo Atieno appeared in court on Thursday, May 8, facing several charges of alleged abuse during their relationship
"The defendant has conducted a campaign of terror and abuse against the complainant for over ten years," Prosecutor Edward Kalber told the courtA British popstar has accused her ex-partner of spending three years harassing her while also demonstrating coercive and controlling behavior.
On Thursday, May 8, Willesden Magistrates' Court heard allegations of how Keisha Buchanan was beaten and blocked from wearing red lipstick by Taiwo Leo Atieno during their 10-year relationship. Per prosecutors, the soccer star, 39, who played for Kenya and Luton Town, also allegedly controlled Buchanan's finances, when she could shower, and eating habits, UK newspapers The Standard and Metro reported.
He is also accused of preventing the Sugababes singer, 40, from watching TV, only allowing her to go to the gym at 'certain times' and demanding $33,000 [£25,000] from her.
The pair reportedly met in 2006 and began dating in 2011, while the alleged abuse took place between 2015 and 2018, the outlets reported.
Buchanan went to the police in December last year to report the 'campaign of terror and abuse' she allegedly suffered, according to The Standard.
Atieno allegedly harassed the 'About You Now' singer after their relationship ended, while also breaching a court order banning contact.
He reportedly sent texts, emails and made social media contact for three years.
'The offending is severe in its nature and has caused […] problems for the defendant, both psychological and physical,' Prosecutor Edward Kalber said, according to Metro.
'The complainant states that while she lived with the defendant, she wasn't allowed to open her own letters or sort out her finances,' he continued. 'The complainant would have to ask for money whenever she wanted it.'
'The defendant would get annoyed if the complainant wore red lipstick. He berated her and called her trashy, and told her she looked like a prostitute whenever she wore this,' Kalber added. 'This then fed into her dietary issues, due to the defendant controlling what she was allowed to eat.'
Having been allegedly assaulted three times, Buchanan had to undergo physiotherapy due to the physical abuse, Metro reported.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Atieno is charged with controlling and coercive behaviour between December 2015 and May 2018, assault occasioning actual bodily harm between January 2012 and January 2015, harassment between January 2021 and December last year, and an alleged breach of a non-molestation order, per The Standard.
The Brixton-born forward of Kennington, southwest London, indicated not guilty pleas to all four charges against him when he appeared in the dock on Thursday, according to the outlet.
His lawyer, Eli Belegu, told the court that Atieno was Buchanan's business manager.
'This is absolutely misleading as far as he is concerned,' she said, according to MailOnline. 'He denies that she ever had to ask him for money. The defendant is not a flight risk. The defendant has no intention of leaving the country and will attend further hearings.'
'The defendant is not at risk of committing further offenses," Belegu added.
Buchanan also contests that he breached a court order.
Atieno was remanded back into custody following the court appearance. Deputy District Judge Clare Boichot has sent the case to Harrow Crown Court, with a preliminary hearing set for June 5.
is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!
Buchanan was one of the original members of the Sugababes alongside singers Mutya Buena and Siobhán Donaghy.
Before splitting up in 2011, the girl group topped the charts with songs such as "Push the Button" and "Round Round." The trio has since reunited and has had a successful run of arena shows and festival appearances, including Glastonbury 2024.
The Sugababes didn't immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on May 9.
Read the original article on People
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Building the Band' to Premiere This Summer After Liam Payne Family Approves Footage
Netflix's musical competition series, Building the Band, will premiere on the streaming service this summer. The first four episodes will make their debut on July 9, three more will appear on July 16, and the final batch is set for July 23. Netflix had previously paused production on the series following the death of one of its judges, Liam Payne. In the series, a group of singers attempts to build chemistry with each other — eventually forming a band — by singing with one another in booths. They're not able to see each other, similar to Netflix's dating show, Love Is Blind. Once the bands are in place, they meet and see each other for the first time, hoping they'll have chemistry and the choreography chops to pull off a working ensemble. More from Rolling Stone 5 Things We Learned from 'Titan: The OceanGate Disaster' 'Too Much' Trailer: Lena Dunham Directs Semi-Autobiographical Rom-Com Starring Megan Stalter Lady Gaga Channels Wednesday Addams' Gothic Glam in New 'Abracadabra' Performance Backstreet Boys' AJ McLean is the show's host. Nicole Scherzinger serves as a mentor and judge, while Kelly Rowland and the late One Direction star also appear as judges. 'Liam Payne's family reviewed the series and is supportive of his inclusion,' Netflix wrote in a statement. Payne's segment of the show was filmed last July, months before his October death. 'He remembered people's names and was chatty and approachable,' Simon Hay, the show's shooting producer-director, told Rolling Stone in an interview for the magazine's in-depth investigation into Payne's death. Another crew member described Payne as 'egalitarian and charming' on set. That crew member also recalled that Payne 'really wanted to help' the participants on the show. 'That was the extra gut punch when I heard the terrible news,' the source said. 'He wouldn't be able to help them anymore.' 'He and I immediately connected on not only a music level but a human level,' McLean told Rolling Stone, 'like we both were living a parallel life. There was a lot of funny boy-band jabs that we would take at each other. He really had a quick wit to him — that nice, dry, British humor.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Best 'Saturday Night Live' Characters of All Time Denzel Washington's Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best 70 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The OceanGate Victims' Eerie Last Words Speak Volumes of Their Mindset Before the Vessel's Tragic Implosion
The Titan's story isn't over yet. Netflix's newest investigation documentary Titan: The OceanGate Disaster gives insight to the years and moments leading up to the tragic day where 5 people died on the way to see the wreckage of the Titanic. Netflix's documentary explores the means OceanGate used to skirt through regulations with the Titan submersible and Stockton Rush's obsession to become the next big billionaire. In the film, former OceanGate bookkeeper Bonnie Carl says that Rush 'wanted to be a Jeff Bezos or an Elon Musk. He referred to those guys as big swinging dicks, and he loved that term.' More from StyleCaster Tylenol Murders Suspect James Lewis' Eerie Last Interview Before His Death Included Him Answering 'All the Hard Questions' Are Colt & Kelsey Still Together From Sneaky Links? Where They Are Now After Their Love Triangle With AngeliqueHowever, that journey came at the expense of five lives. Rush, British aviation billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet were all killed in the Titan's implosion on June 18, 2023. According to the US Coast Guard, the Titan's last message to the boat Polar Prince that they were 'dropped two wts,' referring to their weights. After that message, there were no updates from the submersible. Forty minutes after the submersible dived down, the Polar Prince experienced trouble receiving transmissions from the Titan. 'I need better comms from you,' to which the Titan answered 'yes' and said they 'lost system oand [sic] chat settings,' at around 10:15 a.m. Paul-Henri Nargeolet, was believed to be the messenger. The ship later asked, 'status? do you see polar prince on your display?' The Titan wrote back 'yes' and 'all good here.' Tym Catterson, who was OceanGate's contract safety diver and submersible pilot, recounted seeing the victims right before the implosion in a BBC documentary. 'Suleman was close to the last to going in and when he came up I grabbed him by the back of his flotation device and pulled him to make sure he isn't going to go sliding off into the water,' he said. 'I helped him get in I helped him get into the sub and then I said 'have a good dive'.' Rush's wife, Wendy, who was on the support ship, heard a boom. That boom was likely the implosion. The project's development started in 2016 but had major red flags throughout the years. Experts believed that the carbon fiber wasn't up to safety regulations and end caps, made of titanium, were affixed to the hull with glue. There were clear warning signs when the carbon fiber kept popping during subsequent trips. 'I still question it every day: How could he not see this was dangerous?' former Oceangate employee Bonnie Carl says about Rush's ego. 'In my opinion, he clearly wanted fame. Stockton had his mind set. He was going to do this no matter what.' Best of StyleCaster The 26 Best Romantic Comedies to Watch if You Want to Know What Love Feels Like These 'Bachelor' Secrets & Rules Prove What Happens Behind the Scenes Is So Much Juicier BTS's 7 Members Were Discovered in the Most Unconventional Ways
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
Netflix hitmaker Scott Frank on Hollywood: 'People are afraid now.'
Scott Frank figured out how to thrive in Hollywood. Now he's doing it at Netflix. But the writer/director has advice for young people who want to follow in his footsteps: Try something else. If Frank were starting out his career in 2025, he said he wouldn't mess around with movies or television. "I'd want to go work in the gaming world, where I think there's some really interesting stuff going on," he told me this month. That's quite a comment coming from someone who spent years as one of the most in-demand writers in the movie business, and has now established himself as a reliable hitmaker for Netflix. " Dept. Q" — his third series for the streamer, following his "Godless" western and the pandemic megahit "The Queen's Gambit" — is his take on the British mystery genre, and it's been near the top of the Netflix charts since it debuted in May. But Frank says the wave of digital distractions and options makes it incredibly difficult for traditional movies and TV to capture audience attention today. For all of Netflix's massive success, it still lags behind YouTube in terms of time viewers spend on screens, he notes. And teens are now spending an astonishing two hours a day on TikTok. "So, how do you get people to go to the movies? How do you get people to pay attention to your show? There's so much stuff," he tells me. "Whereas gaming — you're not folding your laundry while you're playing a game. You're not texting while you're playing a game. You're involved. And that seems to me like an opportunity for storytelling." That won't be an opportunity for Frank himself — "I'm too old," he says — and he says he'll continue to try making movies and TV shows. He'd love to make a second season of "Dept. Q," which is based on a series of crime novels by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen. You can hear my full conversation with Frank on my Channels podcast. The following is an edited excerpt from our chat: Peter Kafka: Some Netflix shows and movies seem like they'll generate huge numbers, but don't feel like they have cultural resonance. But it seems like people are talking about your show. Do you feel that? Scott Frank: You're certainly correct in that a lot of the movies, in particular, don't leave much of a ripple. There's not a lot of cultural wake. That being said, they are watched a lot, and people enjoy watching them and seek them out. And Netflix has 300 million worldwide subscribers, so way more people are going to watch your movie. As opposed to something getting released in theaters that no one watches, and it doesn't create any kind of long tail, either. With the television shows, it's a little different. Because when they hit, they tend to leave a mark. They tend to resonate. What accounts for that? Is it simply because there's more of it? There's 10 episodes, so you're spending more time? And there's more reason to talk about it, because it's episodic — you can tell people, "Wait till you get to episode five?" Yes, yes, yes, and yes. I think that's why. It's a different sort of investment. When you're sitting down to watch a show, you are hoping that it's something you're going to stick with. Whereas when you're watching a movie, you know: "I have a couple hours, an hour and a half, I'm gonna watch this thing." I don't have an easy answer other than to say that, for me, the engagement and narrative in the world right now have never been higher. During the Hollywood writers' and actors' strikes a couple of years ago, AI didn't start off as the big issue, but then became one, or at least the dominant talking point. What did you make of that discussion then? And how are you thinking about AI and tech now? Tech has been a bit of a disaster for the country in many ways, but it's also been an amazing boon to the world. I just think that these guys run the companies, so many of them are compromised and … Let's narrow it down to your world. We could have the other discussion … But I think it affects my world because they now own my world. We probably were striking against the wrong people that time. Because we're owned by tech people now. This is increasingly more and more a tech business. And so, ultimately, we're at the whim of these people at the very top of these companies. We saw after, after the election, everybody's sort of paying, essentially bribes to [ Donald Trump ]. So that affects us. That really does affect the business. People are afraid now. And so you see that. You see people are too careful. They're afraid because of the political climate, or they're afraid just because it's an era of consolidation and there just aren't that many places to go if you upset a studio chief? I think all of the above. I just think it's all at the same time. Also, the ground is shifting. This business hasn't landed where it's going to land yet, and people keep looking backwards and saying, "No, we just need to get moviegoing back to where it was." That boat's sailed. That's not gonna happen anymore. So we're not thinking about, "Well, what is the business now? What does the business want to be?" The audience is trying to tell us, and we're not listening. How do you feel about using tech and AI in your work? There's one theory that says someone's going to type in a prompt and the AI spits out an entire movie. The more conservative argument is, "We're going to improve flows, and instead of using 10 visual-effects people, you could do it with four or eight." The even more positive spin is, "Those eight to 10 visual-effects people could do much better work." We've always used versions of that. If it wasn't proper AI, there were always ways to shortcut those kinds of things, to create a smoother workflow and all of that. If an actor couldn't do a certain stunt, and we wanted to put their face on something else, that's been happening, and that's going to get easier. Which is scary if you're an actor. I think the bigger problem is not making stuff with AI, but deciding what to make with AI. That's the bigger threat, at least for me, in the immediate sense. Have you played around and asked ChatGPT to write a script in the mode of Scott Frank? Yeah. It was silly. But if you want to write a letter, a business letter or something … my wife needed to write this letter, and she just thought, "Let's see what ChatGPT said," and she sent me the letter and it was damn good. It was really good. I think it's more about the future of the algorithm. The algorithm is great for marketing after something's done. [But] it's death to the industry to use it to decide what to make because you're gaming something. And if everybody's using the same algorithm, it becomes a snake that eats its own tail eventually. That's my big fear. You started in Hollywood the old-fashioned way — you moved there and spent years trying to get work as a writer. I wrote one script over and over that no one wanted — " Little Man Tate" — until somebody wanted it. What would that path look like for you now if you wanted to get into making movies or television? Would you move to LA, for starters? That's easy. I wouldn't go into movies or television. I'd go into games. If I were 24 now, I'm not gonna fuck around with movies or television. I want to go work in the gaming world, where I think there's some really interesting stuff going on. Other than the fact that lots of people play games, what's appealing to you? They seem pretty narratively limited. But they're at the beginning, in a way. I mean, the first movies were narratively limited, too. And I wonder what you can do with them. I'm really curious. I just feel like that world is way more interesting. You know, more people watch YouTube stuff and TikTok stuff than Netflix. YouTube is No. 1 [for time spent] and Netflix is way down [the list]. And then the next closest thing, Disney, is way down. And people on average spend two hours a day on TikTok. So that's what you're competing with. So your next project is an immersive game … No. I'm too old. There's a series of "Dept. Q" books. Will you do more of them? I'd love to. It's up to Netflix. I would absolutely love to.
