Shia LaBeouf has never kept his traumatic childhood a secret.
Yet, somehow through all the drama, the actor seemed to brush it off as no big deal.
It seemed as though Shia was unaffected by the instability and shocking events of his
childhood.
Until one day, the actor finally snapped, taking his career and his loved ones down
with him.
Little did he know that he was suffering from an undiagnosed condition, which would only
come to light much later on in his life.
Unfortunately, with the actor's latest down spiral along with allegations of sexual abuse,
it seems that his career and reputation are now at risk once again.
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When he starred in his film "Honey Boy," portraying his own father, the world got a much deeper
look into what it was really like for him growing up.
The film was heart-wrenching and allowed fans to have a better understanding of Shia and
what it was like for him living in poverty with a father who was abusive and addicted
to substances.
Honey Boy seemed to be Shia's way of getting back on the big screen, garnering several
awards, and for a moment, it was as though the actor had gotten himself back on the straight
and narrow after going through quite a few twists and turns in his career.
However, just over the last few months, the actor seems to have fallen off the rails once
again following allegations of abuse from his ex-girlfriend, singer FKA Twigs.
The couple officially began dating in around 2018 after meeting on the set of that very
film, Honey Boy.
The two were immediately attracted to one another, a close friend reported, but they
still wanted to keep their relationship on the down-low for as long as possible.
They enjoyed each other's company and got along really well, and soon started getting
spotted out together.
However, they still tried to maintain their privacy, avoiding the cameras as often as
they could.
However, just nine months later, the couple split, and for a while, no one knew why.
Until Twigs finally opened up about the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of now ex-boyfriend.
While the world was not unfamiliar with Shia's often radical behavior, news of his alleged
physical and emotional abuse was a complete shock.
Knowing that the actor himself had suffered abuse at the hands of his own father, how
could he have then gone on to do the same to someone he loved?
"It's a miracle I came out alive," she confessed.
FKA Twigs sat down for a very candid and intimate interview and went on to explain in explicit
detail all the trauma she had endured during her relationship.
She described Shia as manipulative, explaining the "calculated, systematic, tricky, and maze-like"
tactics he would use to control her.
He would allegedly gaslight her, isolate her from her friends and family.
All the constant anxiety she felt during the relationship even led to the singer having
serious sleep deprivation.
"If you put a frog in a boiling pot of water, that frog is going to jump out straight away.
Whereas if you put a frog in cool water and heat it up slowly, that frog is going to boil
to death.
That was my experience being with [LaBeouf]."
The singer went on to describe the turning point of their relationship when she knew
she had to leave him, because she had become so afraid for her life, she wasn't sure if
she would come out of the relationship alive … After spending Valentine's Day together
at a hotel, she woke up in a shock to find Shia on top of her with his hands around her
neck and starting to strangle her.
The next morning, she claims, the abuse continued when Shia threw her on the ground outside
of the hotel.
Once they had made it inside his car and were headed home, she said he began driving maniacally,
demanding that twigs profess her love for him.
At that moment, she thought he was going to try and kill them both.
"I was thinking to myself, 'I wonder what would happen to my body...if [we] smashed
into a wall at 80 miles per hour?'…
Do I jump out of the car at 80 miles an hour?"
After he eventually pulled over at a gas station, she attempted to grab her bags and make a
run for them.
She knew she had to get away from him as soon as she could; the actor slammed her up against
the car and tried to choke her again.
Screaming at her, he forced her back into the car.
After that incident, Twigs finally called it quits, she didn't want Shia to lay his
hands on her ever again.
"I honestly wish I could say that I found some strength and I saw this light.
I wish I could say, '[It is] a testament to my strong character,' or 'It's the way my
mother raised me.'
It's none of that.
It's pure luck that I'm not in that situation anymore."
After going public with her story and filing a lawsuit against Shia, the singer received
countless messages of love and support.
On Instagram, actress Olivia Wilde also weighed in, writing, "Love, respect, and support @fkatwigs."
Weeks later, reports surfaced that Wilde had fired LaBeouf from the movie Don't Worry Darling,
that the two were co-starring in and replaced him with Harry Styles.
According to reports, Shia had, quote, "displayed poor behavior and his style clashed with the
cast and crew, including Wilde, who ultimately fired him."
The actor was also dropped from all promotional material from his other recent film, Pieces
of a Woman.
Shia's reputation was once again going up in flames, and he released a statement of
his own, "I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations.
I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years.
I have a history of hurting the people closest to me.
I'm ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt.
There is nothing else I can really say."
In early 2021, LaBeouf reportedly started receiving in-patient treatment and agreed
to mutually part ways with his talent agency CAA.
This is not the first time that the actor had been forced to seek help for his aggressive
behavior.
Back in 2017, LaBeouf was arrested for "disorderly conduct, obstruction and public drunkenness"
while trying to bum a cigarette.
The video released of his arrest was an expletive-riddled, racist rant leveled at the police officers,
and it was a clear indication that the actor was out of control.
He was released soon after his arrest on the condition that he attend a court-ordered ten
weeks in rehab for his addiction to alcohol and aggressive behavior.
LaBeouf also released a formal apology via Twitter for his behavior towards the officers.
He called the incident a "new low" and expressed a new commitment towards attaining sobriety.
It was during his recovery time in rehab that he learned he was suffering from PTSD due
to situations he experienced in childhood.
"It was the first time I'd been told I had PTSD.
I just thought I was an alcoholic, like a true blue drunk and I needed to deal with
that.
I knew it was an issue but didn't know there was this extra whole other thing that was
hindering my ability to have any peace in my life and my ability to deal with people."
While in rehab, he took the time to write down all the events from his childhood, and
during therapy, he uncovered many more dark situations that occurred that he had blocked
out from his memory as a child.
One of these events had even been of his mother's rape.
The actor confessed that his mother had been assaulted by a man while he was in another
room.
The unknown man ran out and his mother ran out after him, but they were never able to
catch him and he was never found.
Many of Shia's trauma was linked to his father, who was addicted to heroin, alcohol and was
both physically and verbally abusive towards him.
As a baby, Shia's dad used to hold him upside down to get him to stop crying.
One day, during one of his father's drunken rages, he even held a loaded gun towards his
son and threatened to shoot him.
After writing his life story, along with the countless traumatic events that occurred during
his childhood, Shia was able to compose Honey Boy.
Rather than portray himself in the film, he chose to play the role of his father.
The filming process was in itself a very heavy and emotional journey for the actor, who had
to reenact and, in a sense, relive his traumatic childhood experience.
So despite having gone to rehab to deal with everything that he had gone through, it's
possible that the making of Honey Boy triggered the actor and undid a lot of the healing that
he had done.
While there is no excuse for the alleged abuse that Twigs endured at the hands of Shia, he
has never denied that he was a broken person and caused harm to those he loved and others
around him.
Perhaps now the actor will be able to take the time to heal the gaping wounds his childhood
has left behind and make amends with those he has hurt.
Whether he will be able to recover his career is another question all on its own.