Shia LaBeouf Gives Rare Interview From Parking Lot Amid Abuse Lawsuit
Shia LaBeouf resurfaced for his first interview, of sorts, in over three years this week. The actor had previously stepped away from the public eye following allegations made by his ex-girlfriend Tahliah Debrett Barnett, otherwise known as the singer FKA twigs, who sued him for sexual battery, assault, and emotional distress in late 2020.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with LaBeouf in a parking lot following the final performances of a new David Mamet play, Henry Johnson, in which he stars opposite Evan Jonigkeit as the "brooding cellmate" of Jonigkeit's titular character, a lawyer who has suddenly found himself behind bars.
LaBeouf recalled first reaching out to Mamet after he was replaced by Barry Levinson to direct an upcoming film about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which the 37-year-old is attached to star in opposite Al Pacino. After the film was delayed, LaBeouf asked Mamet via email if he could "audit" writer sessions to help him learn more of his process.
Instead, Mamet offered LaBeouf the part in the play, at a time when he wasn't sure if he was still hirable due to the impending trial, which is scheduled for Oct. 14, 2024.
“I’m lucky to really be able to act,” LaBeouf explained to the publication on a recent Sunday night, after telling the New York Times in 2020: "I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years."
"If you spend all your time reading about the way the Internet views you, you forget about any love that exists in the world," LaBeouf continued in the parking lot interview. "And if you have an obsessive myopic alcoholic mind, it’s really easy to write these narratives where you just give up. I got a fault-finding mind, and my outlook already swings negative, so if my life is swinging a little bit negatively, it’s really hard to stay afloat."
"For both work and mental health reasons, it’s cool to be here," he added. "But also, it’s surprising because I didn’t think that I had a squad. Like our program says, you wake up one day and turn around to find that you’ve got 50 people that fucking ride for you in your life that you didn’t have before. This is the fruit of that. I can’t talk too much about it, but that’s what it is."
FKA Twigs previously spoke about Labeouf's alleged abuse in a 2020 interview withThe New York Times. “What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life," she said. "I don’t think people would ever think that it would happen to me. But I think that’s the thing. It can happen to anybody.”
It's unclear how long LaBeouf has been in recovery, but in March 2022 he welcomed a daughter with his wife Mia Goth, following a reconciliation after the couple had separated and filed for divorce back in 2018. Though the trial will still play out in a courtroom next year, it seems as though for now LaBeouf is trying to getting his personal and professional life back on track.