Shia LaBeouf Opens Up About Being Arrested In 2017: ‘What Went On In Georgia Was Mortifying’
Shia LeBeouf has finally opened up about his 2017 arrest for disorderly conduct and public intoxication in Savannah, Georgia last year.
LeBeouf's Arrest
In July, the Transformers star was filming his upcoming movie The Peanut Butter Falcon in Savannah, Georgia, when he got into trouble with the law.
The actor got into an altercation with a police officer who denied him a cigarette. The 31-year-old actor ignored the officer's request to calm down and became combative after he was brought into the police station.
Video footage of LeBeouf's racially charged and expletive-laced tirade against the officers while resisting arrest was later released online, in which the actor told one of the officers that he was going to hell because he was black.
The actor was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct, and although the former charge was later dropped, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction in October and was placed on probation for a year.
The actor later apologized for his actions, stating that he was "deeply ashamed" of his behavior and was "actively taking steps toward securing sobriety."
LeBeouf Says Arrest Was 'Mortifying'
"What went on in Georgia was mortifying," LaBeouf told Esquire. "White privilege and desperation and disaster. It came from a place of self-centered delusion ... It was me trying to absolve myself of guilt for getting arrested. I fucked up."
The Georgia arrest was the ninth time LaBeouf has had a run-in with the law. He also revealed that he was diagnosed with PTSD after he checked into rehab in the wake of his Georgia arrest. He noted that the disorder stems from watching his mother get sexually assaulted when he was younger.
The actor added that he once heard his mother, Shayna, getting sexually assaulted and could do nothing to stop it. He also pointed out that his outbursts and violent behavior is the result of the violence he witnessed toward his mother.
"The first time I got arrested with a real charge, it stemmed from the same s--t," he said. "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."
The incidents involving his mother is also the reason the actor now sleeps with a gun. LaBeouf will next be seen in the upcoming film Borg vs. McEnroe, which is slated to hit theaters on April 13.
