Shia LaBeouf is opening up about the abuse allegations that have disgraced his career.
On Jon Bernthal’s podcast “Real Ones,” LaBeouf addresses the disturbing accusations of sexual battery and physical and verbal abuse brought against him by FKA Twigs in a 2020 lawsuit. LaBeouf dated FKA Twigs for roughly a year after they met on the set of his 2019 film “Honey Boy.” With allegations ranging from violent attacks to strangulation, FKA Twigs accused LaBeouf of knowingly infecting her with an STD, and shooting stray dogs with a gun to get into character for his film “The Tax Collector.”
“I hurt that woman,” LaBeouf said, although he did not call her by name on the podcast. “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.”
The actor added: “When I think about what my life has become, and what it is now, like what my purpose is now… I need to be useful. And when I look at this #MeToo environment, there’s not a whole lot of dudes that are taking accountability.”
“I fucked up bad,” LaBeouf admitted. “Like crash and burn type shit. [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.” LaBeouf later said he has a “long list of people that I need to make amends to.”
During the interview, LaBeouf admitted to “cheat[ing] on every woman I’ve ever been with” and never telling his “sexual partners about getting cold sores,” which he acknowledged was “manipulative.”
LaBeouf discussed being in a better headspace now, saying that when the allegations first went public, he “wanted to hit Twitter and be like, ‘Look, I got receipts.’” Without naming her, he added that his accuser is a “saint” and “saved my fucking life.”
“Had she not intervened in my life and not created the avenue for me to experience ego death, I’d either have a really mediocre existence or I’d be dead in full,” LaBeouf said.
LaBeouf also opened up about contemplating suicide during the “early days” after the accusations went public. “I went and loaded up a gun and sat on my table,” he said. “I was gonna kill myself.”
Referencing the “hypocrisy of where we’re at in discourse in this country… especially in this industry,” Bernthal asked LaBeouf how he reacts to Hollywood’s alienating him.
“I’m in the tribe of the fuck-ups. I’m a very public sinner, a very fallible person in the public sphere,” LaBeouf responded. “What I think now my purpose is, is to not do… the other examples that we’ve had of how to navigate something like this — which is to go after the woman, or try to win a court case, or get back into a fucking movie or like get back on at all.”
LaBeouf added: “My purpose, and I mean this with every fiber of my being, is to be instructive with my life, so that I can be an advertisement, like a billboard, for a principled way of living.”
The actor said he has experienced “ego death” and compared his search for redemption to Josh Brolin (who was arrested in 2004 and charged with spousal battery) and Mel Gibson (who has faced numerous accusations of antisemitism, homophobia, racism and domestic violence).
LaBeouf also mentioned the “squad” of “60 dudes” that give him feedback “in real time.” The actor says the group meets every day on Zoom at 6 p.m., goes on bike rides on Thursdays and meets up at the beach on Sundays.
Throughout the two-hour interview, LaBeouf discussed in depth his plans to move forward, and how going to rehab and raising a daughter with his wife, Mia Goth, have changed his perspective on life.
On Friday, LaBeouf denied that he was fired from “Don’t Worry Darling,” asserting that he chose to leave the production because he didn’t feel the actors were given adequate time to rehearse.
Bernthal’s podcast is available exclusively on Patreon. Watch a clip posted to Bernthal’s Instagram here.
More to come…
