Shia LaBeouf broke down crying while thinking of meeting Jesus and reflected on some of his darkest moments in life.
The 39-year-old actor and filmmaker spoke at length about religion with YouTuber Andrew Callaghan, who probed LaBeouf amid his legal troubles in New Orleans stemming from a Mardi Gras brawl.
Callaghan asked LaBeouf what the Transformers star would say if he came face-to-face with Jesus.
“I’d kiss his feet, I wouldn’t say nothing,” LaBeouf said while becoming visibly emotional. “Chill out with these questions, Andrew. I’m a real Catholic, bro.”
He said the way to find God is to hit rock bottom, an experience he had when he contemplated suicide.
“You gotta hit your head into the wall hard enough where you just go, ‘Fuck it.’ I put a gun in mouth, I was ready to kill myself, blow my brains out,” LaBeuof recalled. “Writing letters … dark days. For real gone, ready to go. Why didn’t I do it? Because I’m pussy.”
Callaghan and LaBeouf agreed that a stripped-down existence, “something like prison,” is the way to embrace spirituality. That’s pertinent since LaBeouf on Saturday (Feb. 28) was arrested and booked for a second time in New Orleans on a simple battery charge, likely connected to a fight that ended in his first arrest this month.
In the interview, which took place between arrests, LaBeouf spoke on the alleged altercation and explained why he drinks alcohol.
“[Drinking] helps me just get out on the town. Bro I just fucking, fuck it all,” LaBeouf said. “I’m no longer no Shia LaBeouf celebrity, hold onto this thing, worry about the next job. None of that. I just go out and I listen to music. It feels good right now, and I’m not hurting nobody.”
He then corrected himself, saying, “There’s two, three people I hurt, I’mma deal with that. God bless you guys, that’s my fault, I’mma deal with you. On me.”
Still, he said the incident that led him to be hospitalized and then charged with two counts of simple battery was a small percentage of his partying in New Orleans.
“That’s three [people]. The amount of interactions I’ve had at Mardi Gras, I must have met 20,000 people,” he said. “Twenty thousand good interactions and three bad interactions, I’m gonna sign up for it, still. It’s like playing blackjack at a casino.”
LaBeouf told Callaghan that the fight took place after gay men touched him.
“I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “Big gay people are scary to me. When I’m like, by myself and three big gay dudes are touching my leg, I’ll be honest. I get scared. I’m sorry. If that’s homophobic, then I’m that.”
Later in the conversation, he added, “be gay over there, though. Don’t be gay in my lap.”
Police say LaBeouf became “increasingly aggressive” at the spot on Royal Street, where staff tried to kick out the actor before he punched at least two people. An incident report said LaBeouf allegedly “used the word f*ggot” multiple times during the altercation.
For more information about suicide prevention or to speak with someone confidentially, call or text with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.