Shia LaBeouf claimed his ex, FKA Twigs, saved his life amid a massive "perspective shift" which included his pursuit of converting to Catholicism, 627 days of sobriety and becoming a father nearly two years after she filed a lawsuit against the "Transformers" actor for sexual battery, assault and the infliction of emotional distress.
During a recent interview released Thursday on YouTube with Word on Fire Catholic Ministries' Bishop Robert Barron, LaBeouf discussed the incredible transformation he saw within himself as he delved into researching the late mystic St. Padre Pio, whom the actor portrays in the upcoming movie.
"The older I get, the more plausible I find that the devil, of course, wants to go after, even in a very direct way, those avenues of grace," Bishop Robert Barron said. LaBeouf agreed that he has found a "suffering hack. Suffering is actually a gift. You blessed me with this."
The "Transformers" actor added: "When I think about what’s happened in my life this way … Old me, when I walked in, was so upset about, so resentful about the woman who accused me of all this."
SHIA LABEOUF CONVERTS TO CATHOLICISM AFTER STUDYING FOR ‘PADRE PIO’ MOVIE
"I wanted to go on Twitter and write all these things. I wanted to justify this and explain all this. Now I actually see: the woman saved my life. She is, for me, a saint in my life. She saved my life. That happened, the perspective switch feels miraculous."
"In my life, it’s a change in perspective that feels miraculous, to me," he said. "There's no other way I could have done it on my own."
LaBeouf said he converted to Christianity while shooting his upcoming film "Padre Pio" and has become a member of the Roman Catholic Church.
When discussing learning how to recite a rosary, he recalled hearing a thought, "Call your mother, tell her you love her."
SHIA LEABEOUF DENIES OLIVIA WILDE'S CLAIM THAT HE WAS FIRED FROM ‘DON’T WORRY DARLING: ‘I QUIT’
Their relationship had been marred through the years, and he was hesitant to pick up the phone due to headlines circulating about the lawsuit Twigs had filed against LaBeouf in December 2020.
"I had been abusive to women, and had been shooting dogs and willingly been giving women STD’s," he told the Bishop. "It’s disgusting. It’s depraved. My mother is embarrassed beyond imagination."
Twigs, a British singer whose full name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, met Shia while working on their 2018 film "Honey Boy," and they dated for eight months before ending things in 2019.
In her lawsuit, she accused LaBeouf of "knowingly" giving her a sexually transmitted disease, and described the abuse throughout their relationship as "relentless." She also alleged he would "squeeze or grab her to the point of bruising."
OLIVIA WILDE FIRED SHIA LABEOUF FROM ‘DON'T WORRY DARLING' TO KEEP FLORENCE PUGH ‘SAFE’
Twigs also claimed LaBeouf kept a loaded gun by the bed and that she was not allowed to wear clothes in bed. She also said he would deprive her of sleep.
Included in the lawsuit, first obtained by the New York Times, are additional accusations made by another former girlfriend of LaBeouf’s, Karolyn Pho. Pho alleged in the lawsuit a time LaBeouf "drunkenly pinned her to a bed and head-butted her, enough that she bled."
He denied many of the allegations at the time, and stated he was working toward betterment as he had not yet been cured of his "PTSD and alcoholism."
LaBeouf recently addressed claims he was fired from "Don't Worry Darling" in an open-letter to director Olivia Wilde sent to Variety, and admitted he was now 627 days sober. FKA Twigs' lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles on Dec. 11, 2020, three days after he began his sobriety journey.
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"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. Mia, my wife & I have found each other again & are journeying toward a healthy family with love and mutual respect," he wrote.
"I have embarked on a journey that feels redemptive & righteous (dirty word but fitting). I write to you now with 627 days of sobriety and a moral compass that never existed before my great humbling that was the last year and a quarter of my life. I reached out to you a few months ago to make amends; & I still pray one day, you can find space in your heart to forgive me for the failed collaboration we shared."
"My failings with Twigs are fundamental and real, but they are not the narrative that has been presented. There is a time and a place to deal with such things, and I am trying to navigate a nuanced situation with respect for her and the truth, hence my silence. But this situation with your film and my ‘firing’ will never have a court date with which to deal with the facts. If lies are repeated enough in the public they become truth. And so, it makes it that much harder for me to crawl out of the hole I have dug with my behaviors, to be able to provide for my family."
He added: "Firing me never took place, Olivia. And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth. So I am humbly asking, as a person with an eye toward making things right, that you correct the narrative as best you can. I hope none of this negatively effects you, and that your film is successful in all the ways you want it to be."
FKA's case will appear in front of a judge on April 17, 2023, according to Rolling Stone. She said she plans to use a portion of any monetary damages she receives from the lawsuit to domestic violence charities.
