Shia LaBeouf reveals he used to live in Central Park, slept where horses were kept

Shia LaBeouf has made the unexpected revelation he once lived in New York’s Central Park when he wasn’t in a “good way”.

Shia LaBeouf is recalling a tough time in his life.

During an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the actor, 38, spoke about not being in a “good way” in 2013 while rehearsing for the Broadway show Orphans.

Weeks before the previews started, LaBeouf dropped out of the play, which follows two orphaned brothers, Treat and Phillip, and the man they take in, Harold, due to creative differences.

The Even Stevens star told the outlet he was “sleeping in Central Park.”

“They keep horses there at this little fire basin,” LaBeouf said. “And there’s a whole lot of room around there where you can just chill. You got to move every three or four hours and the guy comes around, but you can spend most of your time there.”

Shia LaBeouf revealed he was “sleeping in Central Park”. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

He briefly touched on working on Orphans, in which he was supposed to play Treat, while Tom Sturridge was Phillip and Alec Baldwin was Harold.

LaBeouf and Baldwin, 67, reportedly had mounting tension and were at odds when the young star abruptly left the production.

“He’s a good guy,” LaBeouf said of Baldwin. “He’s just like me. Fear will make you move different. I found it came from having absolutely no spiritual life.”

The star noted that finding Catholicism and living in a monastery “changes the way you work, for sure.”

LaBeouf acknowledged that not having a spiritual life, “made me a piece of s**t” and “not a nice guy.”

LaBeouf was confirmed into Catholic Church last year. Picture: Facebook.

The star said not having a spiritual life “made me a piece of s**t”. Picture: Facebook.

“Me and Alec would never have these problems now. But I was in an island,” he told the outlet. “Then I hear Timothée Chalamet get up [at the 2025 SAG Awards] and he says something like, ‘I want to be great.’ I so know the feeling. On him, it’s cute. On me, it wasn’t cute.”

In 2014, LaBeouf spoke to Interview Magazine about leaving the play and the difficult time in his life, calling it “a heartbreak I still have not been able to recover from.”

“Baldwin and I butted heads hard. I came in method. I was sleeping in the park. I’d wake up, walk to rehearsal. I was so scared to do the play that I had memorised it before ever coming to rehearsal,” he said.

“And my whole goal was to intimidate the f**k out of Baldwin. That was the role. That was my job as an actor. And it wasn’t going to be fake. I wanted him to be scared. So I went about doing that for three weeks of rehearsal, to the point that, in the end, it was unsustainable,” the actor added.

LaBeouf rose to fame as a child playing Louis Stevens on the Disney Channel original series Even Stevens from 2000 to 2003.

He then went on to star in the Transformers franchise from 2007 to 2011.

LaBeouf’s professional and personal life have been muddled with controversy over the years.

He made waves in 2013 after showing up to the movie premiere of his film Nymphomaniac wearing a paper bag over his head that read “I am not famous anymore.”

In 2015, LaBeouf was arrested in Austin, Texas, for public intoxication.

While shooting Nymphomaniac, LaBeouf met Mia Goth, whom he married in 2016. The pair’s union was never legalised, but they separated in 2018.

“Shia and Mia have filed for divorce. The separation is amicable and all details pertaining to the divorce proceedings will remain private,” a rep told People at the time.

He then began seeing FKA Twigs from 2018 to 2019.

In 2020, Goth, 31, and LaBeouf got back together around the same time that FKA Twigs, 37, filed a sexual battery lawsuit, accusing the actor of “relentless abuse.”

A year later, a source told People that LaBeouf had stepped back from the spotlight “so that he can get the help he needs.”

LaBeouf admitted he had been “abusive” for years.

“I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years,” LaBeouf told the New York Times that same year. “I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt.”

“I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalisations,” he added.

In 2022, LaBeouf and Goth welcomed a child.

“I have a little girl, Isabel; she is five months old and just beginning to develop the last half of her laugh; it’s AMAZING,” he wrote in a letter to Don’t Worry Darling director Olivia Wilde. “Mia, my wife & I have found each other again & are journeying toward a healthy family with love and mutual respect.”

It was rumoured that LaBeouf was fired from the 2022 thriller, but he insisted he chose to leave the movie because he didn’t think the cast was given enough rehearsal time.

Mia Goth and LeBeouf welcomed a child in 2022. Picture: Anthony Harvey/Getty Images for BFI

Now, LaBeouf is headed to the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in May for the premiere of Slauson Rec.

The documentary from Leo Lewis O’Neil follows the story of the controversial free acting school LaBeouf launched in Los Angeles in 2018.

“I gave Leo this camera and encouraged him to share his vision and his personal experience without edit. I am aware of the doc and fully support the release of the film. While my teaching methods may be unconventional for some, I am proud of the incredible accomplishments that these kids achieved. Together we turned a drama class into an acting company,” LaBeouf said per Vanity Fair. “I wish only good things for Leo and everyone who was part of The Slauson Rec Company.”

This story originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Shia LaBeouf reveals he used to live in Central Park, slept where horses were kept