This story contains references to suicide and reader discretion is advised.
Shia LaBeouf has spoken in a new interview about allegations of abuse against him.
In December 2020 his former partner FKA twigs (real name Tahliah Barnett) sued the actor, accusing him of “relentless abuse” during their relationship, and later filing a lawsuit alleging sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress. LaBeouf has denied “each and every” abuse allegation by the singer.
Now, LaBeouf has opened up in an episode of actor Jon Bernthal’s podcast Real Ones about the allegations, though at no point does he name or refer specifically to Barnett.
“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-centred, dishonest, inconsiderate, fearful human being,” LaBeouf said [quotes via Consequence].
The actor revealed that he was suicidal when he first faced the accusations. “I went and loaded up a gun and sat on my table,” he said. “I was gonna kill myself.” After receiving advice from once-disgraced stars including Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, LaBeouf was convinced to seek treatment for alcoholism and psychological issues.
He went on to tell Bernthal that a group of “60 dudes” whom he meets weekly for Zoom calls, bike rides, and beach meet-ups have “saved my fucking life”.
LaBeouf also called an unnamed accuser a “saint”, adding: “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.”
He continued: “I’m in the tribe of the fuck-ups. I’m a very public sinner, a very fallible person in the public sphere.
“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.
“I fucked up bad, like crash-and-burn-type shit,” he added. “[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 acknowledged that he has a “long list of people that I need to make amends to”.
Barnett’s case against LaBeouf will be heard before a jury in a Los Angeles, with the trial currently set to start on April 17, 2023.
Meanwhile, LaBeouf has denied Olivia Wilde’s claim that she fired him from film Don’t Worry Darling, saying that he quit the role.
The actor was originally cast as Jack Chambers, a role now played by Harry Styles, in the upcoming psychological thriller opposite Florence Pugh.
His departure from the project in 2020 was originally cited by the studio as a “scheduling conflict”, until director Wilde claimed to Variety that she fired him in order to create a “safe, trusting environment” on set.
