Mia Goth has filed for divorce from Shia LaBeouf. And considering how long these two have been separating, reconciling and separating again, the most surprising part may be that they remained legally married.

The 32-year-old actress filed her petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court on October 6. Goth cited irreconcilable differences and listed July 28, 2025, as the date of separation. She is also requesting primary legal and physical custody of their four-year-old daughter, Isabel, while allowing LaBeouf visitation.

Goth has asked the court to deny spousal support to either party. The Associated Press reviewed the court filing and confirmed that Goth and LaBeouf separated in July 2025. The publication also documented the couple’s complicated relationship history, including their 2016 marriage, their separation in 2018, their reconciliation in 2020 and the birth of their daughter in 2022.

Well. Perhaps this time the paperwork will stick.

This Relationship Has Been Complicated for Years

Mia and Shia met while working on Nymphomaniac in 2012. They married in 2016, announced plans to divorce in 2018 and eventually reconciled. By 2022, they had welcomed a daughter. For years, their relationship seemed to exist in a permanent state of uncertainty.

Were they together? Were they separated? Had they reconciled? Had they actually divorced? The answer frequently depended on which year you were asking. Now Goth has taken the formal legal step.

And I think the distinction matters. A separation and a divorce are not the same thing. A couple can live apart for years while remaining legally married. They can establish separate homes, separate routines and separate relationships. But until somebody actually completes the legal process, that marriage remains part of their lives. Goth has now started the process of ending it.

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LaBeouf has spent much of his adult career attracting attention for behaviour outside his acting work. In February 2026, he was arrested following an altercation during Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans. He subsequently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery charges and received probation and court-ordered treatment.

There is also his history with musician FKA Twigs, who sued him in 2020, alleging sexual battery, assault and emotional distress. That lawsuit was settled in 2025 without a trial establishing the allegations.

Those are separate matters from Goth’s divorce, and the timing does not establish that any particular legal development prompted her filing. Her petition lists the separation as having occurred in July 2025. That is more than a year before this week’s filing.

We don’t need to invent a dramatic final incident to explain why she decided to proceed. Sometimes a relationship ends long before the legal paperwork catches up.

Mia Has Her Own Career to Think About

What I find particularly interesting is how much Goth’s professional life has developed during this relationship. She is no longer simply the young actress who met Shia LaBeouf on a film set. She has become one of the most recognisable actresses working in contemporary horror.

Pearl transformed her into a genuine genre star. X demonstrated how effectively she could carry a disturbing, unconventional story. And her subsequent work has expanded well beyond horror.

She has built a career that stands entirely on its own. That is worth remembering because coverage of celebrity divorces has a habit of reducing women to their relationships.

Goth is an actress. A mother. A working professional. Her marriage is part of her story, but it is not the entire story. And the custody arrangements deserve particular care.

Goth has requested primary custody. That is not the same as a judge awarding it. LaBeouf’s response and any eventual custody order will come through the legal process.

Their daughter is four years old and she does not need to become another character in the public discussion of her parents’ marriage.

Whatever happens next, hopefully both adults can resolve the remaining legal issues without dragging their child through unnecessary conflict.

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