Shia LaBeouf is taking accountability for his recent arrest in New Orleans.
“I’ve been having the time of my life, you know, I got some contrition on my heart,” LaBeouf, 39, said during a Saturday, February 28, interview on Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan. “It’s not nice to hurt people ever. It’s f***ing lame. People got hurt, I got to deal with that. I’mma deal with that in full. I’ll eat it all. It’s on me. I f***ed up.”
LaBeouf was arrested earlier this month on two counts of battery after allegedly striking an unidentified victim multiple times when the actor was intoxicated and being escorted out of a restaurant in New Orleans.
LaBeouf, who appeared in court later that day, has another pretrial hearing scheduled for Thursday, March 19.
“Free me,” he wrote via X hours after his release, breaking his silence on the incident.
LaBeouf further elaborated on what he claims happened during Saturday’s interview, also revealing that he relocated from Los Angeles to New Orleans after he “failed [in his] marriage” to Mia Goth.
“I had to own up to that, and so that’s why I had to move out here,” he explained to host Andrew Callaghan. “I moved out here and started trying to rebuild, was having a good time and then, you know, hit a roadblock right there. That roadblock began with clout-chasing.”
According to LaBeouf, the “clout-chasing” even led to his altercation at the Louisiana restaurant.
“I was drunk, and then I felt infringed upon, like, in terms of my proximity,” the former Disney Channel star explained. “I wasn’t in my right mind, so it’s on me. … It was probably just my fault, for, somewhere. I don’t know how, but I’m going to figure it out.”
Despite LaBeouf’s drinking at the time, he denied that his inebriation was the reason for the fight and subsequent arrest.
“My behavior? Bulls***. I gotta deal with it. Does that mean I got to go to rehab again? I’m just not into it, bro,” LaBeouf admitted. “I don’t think my answers are there, I don’t. If I genuinely did, I’d go. I don’t think I have a drinking problem. I think I have a different problem, and I’m going to address it.”
LaBeouf, instead, believes that he has “a small man complex.”
“Some kind of Napoleonic, I don’t know what it is, [but] I think it’s something that has to do with anger and ego more so than my drinking,” LaBeouf claimed. “That’s where I’m at now on my journey, and I’m trying to navigate it. I’ll figure it out.”
As LaBeouf figures out and works through his apparent issues, he also believes he has discovered the root of the problem.
“What kind of things set off that anger? I mean, boy, I haven’t experienced that for a while, but I’ll be honest with you, big gay people are scary to me,” he claimed. “When I’m standing by myself and three gay dudes are next to me, touching my leg, I get scared. I’m sorry if that’s homophobic, then I’m that. It just happened one time, [and] that’s why I got arrested.”
Without speaking more on the case, LaBeouf also acknowledged that he was “wrong for touching anyone ever.”
“That’s the end of my statement on this whole s***,” he concluded, adding that is “Napoleon complex” can also get set off when LaBeouf feels his “masculinity [is] being challenged.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
