Shia LaBeouf is many things to many people. To some, he will always be the fresh-faced kid from the kids’ movie Holes. To others, he will always be the hapless protagonist of the first three Transformers live-action films. And to everyone else, he is the “just do it!” main character of meme legend.
But this brings us to the big question: who is the real Shia LaBeouf? When you scratch past the Hollywood facade, you are left with a troubling history of alcohol, drugs, abuse, racism, and redemption. Keep reading to learn the truth behind this troubled actor.
Drunk driving arrest
The first live-action Transformers movie helped transform Shia LaBeouf into a household name. However, less than one year after that movie came out, he was making headlines for his drunk driving!
According to Today, he was arrested in July 2008 after a car crash that seriously injured the star’s hand or knee. Authorities reported the star was in West Hollywood when “his pickup collided with another vehicle.” When it was “immediately apparent” that the actor “was intoxicated,” he was arrested.
The previous year, a drunken LaBeouf was arrested for trespassing in a Wal-Greens that he refused to leave. This made it obvious that his struggle with alcohol was becoming an escalating problem.
Barfight veteran
It’s safer when a drunken LaBeouf isn’t behind the wheel. But thanks to his history of barfights, the star’s intoxication still manages to get himself and others hurt.
According to TMZ, he got into a major fight in Sherman Oaks, California, and had to be taken away in handcuffs by police. Later that year, RadarOnline reports that a drunken LaBeouf got into a huge barfight in Vancouver. And in 2014, having not yet learned his lesson, TMZ reports that LaBeouf headbutted a man inside of a pub in London.
Given this history, it’s kind of amazing we never saw LaBeouf fistfight any Decepticons onscreen.
Onset hookups
Like many Hollywood stars, Shia LaBeouf likes to hook up with his costars. Unfortunately, he tends to hook up with costars that are already in relationships!
For example, CBS News reports that LaBeouf dropped a real bombshell on Details magazine: he hooked up with Megan Fox on the set of the Transformers movies. “Look, you’re on the set for six months, with someone who’s rooting to be attracted to you, and you’re rooting to be attracted to them,” he said. “I never understood the separation of work and life in that situation. But the time I spent with Megan was our own thing, and I think you can see the chemistry onscreen.” However, Fox may have been dating her future husband Brian Green at the time, and revelations about her fooling around with people like LaBeouf may have led to the 201 divorce.
According to Hollywood Reporter, LaBeouf also admitted to dating his Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen costar Isabel Lucas while she was dating Adrien Grenier. At this point, we’re trying to figure out if LaBeouf just likes hooking up with involved women or if dating his costars is just part of his crazy method acting.
Insane method acting
Even Hollywood veterans tend to think of method actors as being a bit crazy. Leave it to Shia LaBeouf to go even crazier than the average method actor for the sake of his art!
How crazy is crazy? For one thing, The Guardian reports that LaBeouf prepared to play the role of a character who takes LSD by taking LSD. And his drug-fueled antics were enough to horrify his The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman costar and Harry Potter fan-favorite Rupert Grint.
That pales in comparison to how he got prepared for the movie Fury. LaBeouf admitted to Dazed that “the day after I got the job, I joined the US National Guard. I was baptized –- accepted Christ in my heart –- tattooed my surrender and became a chaplain’s assistant to Captain Yates for the 41st Infantry.” Going on, he claimed that “I spent a month living on a forward operating base. Then I linked up with my cast and went to Fort Irwin. I pulled my tooth out, knifed my face up, and spent days watching horses die. I didn’t bathe for four months.”
There’s a possibility he is pulling our leg, of course. But LaBeouf being LaBeouf, this insane story is very likely true!
That time he got muzzled (literally)
Shia LaBeouf has regularly generated crazy headlines for 15 years now. But things were arguably at their craziest in 2014.
As Page Six reminds us, that was the year that he chased a homeless man around Times Square, all while demanding the man’s paper McDonald’s bag. He then went to a cabaret musical on Broadway and began smoking and smacking people’s butts.
When the cops finally came to cuff him, LaBeouf made the mistake of spitting at them. This resulted in the actor being muzzled and carted away. He ended up looking like what you’d get if you ordered Hannibal Lecter from Wish!
Racially-charged rants
LaBeouf didn’t exactly get himself together in the years after that. In 2017, TMZ reports that he was out for a walk in Georgia when he began asking people for cigarettes. The first person he requested cigarettes from said no, resulting in the star going off on them “in front of women and kids.” The next person he did this to was a police officer, resulting in LaBeouf fleeing to a hotel where he ended up getting arrested in the lobby.
This would have been bad enough on its own. But as The Telegraph reports, LaBeouf was filmed screaming a race-fueled rant at a Black police officer. “You’ve got a president who don’t give a s**t about you and you’re stuck in a police force that don’t give a f**k about you. So you want to arrest white people who give a f**k-, who ask for cigarettes?”
In a perfect world, this would have been a wake-up call for LaBeouf. Instead, things just kept getting worse.
The sexual battery lawsuit
In December of 2020, the singer FKA Twigs filed a lawsuit against Shia LaBeouf for sexual battery and assault. According to Insider, she alleged that this abuse occurred while they were dating between 2018 and 2019.
The lawsuit claims that LaBeouf was very violent and choked her, threw her against a car, and gave her bruises. There were even stranger allegations in there, including that LaBeouf was emotionally abusive and refused to let her wear clothing when she came to bed.
The lawsuit resulted in some consequences, including LaBeouf being dropped by his talent agency, CAA. The star has also flip-flopped on his response to the allegations. As Vulture reports, he previously denied the allegations. However, in a recent appearance on Jon Bernthal’s podcast Real Ones, he seemed to admit to the truth of the allegations without mentioning FKA Twigs by name. “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-centered, dishonest, inconsiderate, fearful human being.”
New LaBeouf, new controversy
These days, Shia LaBeouf is trying to lead a better life. As Distractify reports, he has embraced Catholicism and views his previous struggles through that religious lens. “I know now that God was using my ego to draw me to Him,” he said in an interview with Bishop Barron Presents.
And it might just be working because the latest Shia LaBeouf controversy is one that doesn’t make the actor look bad. It all starts with Olivia Wilde’s upcoming movie Don’t Worry Darling. As Page Six reports, Wilde had originally cast LaBeouf in the movie but recently made claims she fired the actor to keep the rest of the cast “safe” from his “combative energy.”
In response, LaBeouf denied these allegations, sending both an email to Variety along with screenshots of alleged texts from Wilde. These texts clearly show Wilde responding to LaBeouf’s desire to quit the movie and trying to get him to stay. This is further corroborated in a video that recently leaked where she tries to get LaBeouf to stay in the movie.
Understandably, LeBeouf wants Wilde to retract her claims because they make him look even worse in light of recent scandals. Incidentally, Wilde replaced LaBeouf with her current boyfriend, Harry Styles. And while Styles has very talents, all it takes is one viewing of a clip from Don’t Worry Darling to make you wish LaBeouf had stayed onboard!
Go Website
Battling some behavior is tough