At 31 years old, the actor Shia LaBeouf is still figuring himself out. Having worked his entire life as an actor and let the world be a witness of his youth and growth, the artist, unfortunately, has not had the average private life.
LaBeouf decided to accept an interview made by Esquire, in which he finally sat down and talked about the scandals that are now part of who he is. He said a “mortifying” feeling chased him since his 2017 arrest – which involved even in racist attitudes. However, it also helped him to take a step back and understand his situation.
The actor used strong words, which are being quoted, referring to his drunken behavior.
“What went on in Georgia was mortifying, it was a mixture of white privilege and desperation and disaster. I f—d up,” LaBeouf explained to Esquire:
The drunken arrest
A drunk LaBeouf was detained in Savannah, GA, in 2017. The authorities claimed back then that they tracked down the actor at his hotel, and proceeded to take him into custody when he was in the lobby. Mr. LaBeouf got into a fight while claiming he was a “f**ing American,” and that he paid his taxes. He also yelled the police to take the handcuffs off his arms.
The fight, unfortunately for the artist, did not stop there. When he pulled into the car, he did not hesitate to make racist comments. He directed to the African American police officer that was filing a report and standing next to the car’s back door to keep LaBeouf from getting out.
The actor told the officer that the President did not care about their race, and as a result, he was arresting white people. He called him a “dumb b—,” after he highlighted he was trying to “be nice” at first.
“I got more millionaire lawyers than you know what to do with, you stupid bitch!” Mr. LaBeouf yelled after felling none of his insults were getting him nowhere.
The officers took LaBeouf to the police station. He kept complaining about the handcuffs being too tight, and continued insulting the people who were taking care of him at the station.
The actor was booked for public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and obstruction.
‘He mastered his rage, I’m a buffoon’
Eric Sullivan from Esquire magazine had a pleasant evening in which he was able to share some quality time with LaBeouf and his family. During the first round of the interview, he explained that the main topic of the visit was to talk about the new movie LaBeouf was starring: “Borg vs. McEnroe.” Disappointed, LaBeouf revealed that he was nothing like the character he was playing.
“McEnroe was a master at his rage, I’m a buffoon. My public outbursts are failures. They’re not strategic. They’re a struggling motherfucker showing his ass in front of the world. I’ve got to look at my failures in the face for a while, I need to take ownership of my shit and clean up my side of the street a bit before I can go out there and work again, so I’m trying to stay creative and learn from my mistakes. I’ve been falling forward for a long time. Most of my life. The truth is, in my desperation, I lost the plot,” the actor said.
He also soothingly told Mr. Sullivan he knew it was an uncomfortable topic to bring up. However, the actor encouraged him to get to the point.
While the interviewer tried to make a broader approach into the actor, who was still insecure about the intentions of the visit, LaBeouf claimed he knew what Sullivan’s job was: to continue the narrative that he was a “piece of s—.”
Post-Traumatic Disorder
LaBeouf’s parents got divorced when he was only three years old. He explained they would get into ‘massive’ fights, and that the relationship was stable until they stopped creating together. Then, at nine years old, LaBeouf and his mother were kicked out of their apartment by the landlord, forcing them to move to Tujunga, in San Fernando Valley.
As LaBeouf’s father was in rehab, there was nobody to protect his mother from harassment. He also told his mother was raped, but that he was too little to make something. He froze as he overheard the raping. The man escaped, and it left LaBeouf with a trauma that he would carry his entire life.
“When I got to rehab last year, they said I had PTSD. The first time I got arrested with a real charge, it stemmed from the same shit. Some guy bumped into my mother’s car with his car in a parking lot, and my head went right to ‘You need to avenge your mother!’ So I went after the dude with a knife,” LaBeouf explained.
The artist explained he never used the knife. However, he then bought a gun, which to this day, he sleeps with. LaBeouf described his paranoia telling how he always thought somebody would come for him.
The actor faced treatment last year, which involved him talking about his wounds over and over again. He’s now ready to let the world know his side of the story.
Source: Esquire