Shia LaBeouf once lived in NYC park, took steroids during dark period

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Shia LaBeouf is speaking candidly about a troubling time in his career.

The controversial actor, who's been working in Hollywood since he was a child, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter to promote his new film, "Henry Johnson." During their conversation, LaBeouf discussed his former feud with fellow actor Alec Baldwin, whom he briefly worked with for a Broadway show called "Orphans" in 2013.

LaBeouf was originally supposed to star opposite Al Pacino, but when Pacino left the production, Baldwin replaced him – something that LeBeouf struggled with. As he explained to THR, he was solely to blame for their issues, because he was "not a nice guy" at the time.

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Shia LaBeouf said he lived in Central Park during a difficult period of his life. (Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

"By the time Baldwin got there, it was almost unfair," he said. "So he’s dealing with both my fractured little weak ego, right? All this hard prep that I’d done for two years, and my desperate need to show him all my prep, or that he would accept me somehow. I was so insecure. Well, that got contentious in the room. Then he got competitive. That’s just what our relationship turned into."

He continued, "I’d be off book, he’d be on book, and he didn’t want me to look at him be off book. That makes it hard to play these scenes out or block this thing even. And no fault against him, he had two weeks to come in because Pacino [dropped out]. I had built the whole thing based on my relationship with Pacino. And that’s gone. So I was kind of heartbroken. When he came in, I’m living in the park, and I’m on steroids, and I’m not in a good way."

"Fear will make you move different. I found it came from having absolutely no spiritual life … It made me a piece of s--t. Not a nice guy."

— Shia LaBeouf

When asked to elaborate, LaBeouf said, "I was sleeping in Central Park. They keep horses there at this little fire basin. 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 feuded with Alec Baldwin during Broadway rehearsals in 2013, though he's said the two have made up since. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for HFA)

He confessed that his issues with Baldwin "got insane," but said that the two are "good" now.

"Me and him are good because he’s gone through a lot," he shared. "I’ve gone through a lot. We’ve both been able to send each other love and make it right before all the madness happened on both sides. We made it right. He’s a good guy. He’s just like me. Fear will make you move different. I found it came from having absolutely no spiritual life. . . . It made me a piece of s--t. Not a nice guy."

"I was sleeping in Central Park. They keep horses there at this little fire basin. And there’s a whole lot of room around there where you can just chill."

— Shia LaBeouf

LaBeouf has since found his faith. Last year, he received the sacrament of confirmation after converting to Catholicism. He even expressed interest in becoming a deacon.

"Me and Alec would never have these problems now," he acknowledged. "But I was in an island."

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Alec Baldwin said he struggled to get along with Shia LaBeouf when they rehearsed for "Orphans" together in 2013. (Jim Spellman)

Baldwin did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

In a 2014 piece he wrote for Vulture, Baldwin spoke about his experience with LaBeouf, admitting that "there was friction between us from the beginning."

"LaBeouf seems to carry with him, to put it mildly, a jailhouse mentality wherever he goes. When he came to rehearsal, he was told it was important to memorize his lines. . . . I, however, do not learn my lines in advance. So he began to sulk because he felt we were slowing him down. You could tell right away he loves to argue. And one day he attacked me in front of everyone. He said, ‘You’re slowing me down, and you don’t know your lines. And if you don’t say your lines, I’m just going to keep saying my lines.’"

He "snorted" at LaBeouf, and the two had a terse exchange in front of the rest of the cast. Afterward, Baldwin asked for a break, then took the director and stage manager aside and told them, "One of us is going to go."

Alec Baldwin nearly quit the Broadway show after getting into an argument with Shia LaBeouf. (Getty Images)

He wrote, "I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, I’ll go.’ I said don’t fire the kid, I’ll quit. They said no, no, no, no, and they fired him. And I think he was shocked. He had that card, that card you get when you make films that make a lot of money that gives you a certain kind of entitlement. I think he was surprised that it didn’t work in the theater."

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While LaBeouf struggled to get along with Baldwin at the time, he told THR that other A-list stars were there for him when he needed to make a change, naming Mel Gibson as someone who has "always been very lovely" to him.

"He held my hand when I was really s----ing on myself," he recalled. "Dude really stepped up for me in big ways. Him, Sean Penn, James Brolin — these guys got me to sobriety. They got around me and kept me alive."

Shia LaBeouf said Mel Gibson helped him get sober. (Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage via Getty Images)

LaBeouf briefly acknowledged the public perception of him after years of controversy that included former girlfriend FKA Twigs filing a lawsuit against him in 2020 for the alleged abuse she suffered during their relationship. The lawsuit is ongoing, and he has denied the allegations, but he said that he understands there is "all this myth already about how I’m a dog-killing, monstrous piece of s--t."

Now, he is interested in rehabilitation.

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Shia LaBeouf said that being able to act after being involved in so many scandals feels like a "miracle." (REUTERS/Mark Blinch)

"I hope my whole life is squaring things, getting it right," the actor said. "It’s what I want to do with the rest of my life. And there’s a lot of things to get right. I’m blessed that I still have this craft and I’m still allowed to do it at a high level with the highest. It feels like a f---ing miracle. It’s all part of the same thing — God’s everything or nothing."

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