(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) In a newly released interview with Bishop Robert Barron, actor Shia LaBeouf reported that converting to Catholicism prevented him from committing suicide.
As reported by the Daily Caller, the Transformers star had been known for his erratic and chaotic behavior; perhaps the most famous scandal was his arrest at his own Trump protest named “He will not divide us.”
In the interview with Barron, he blamed his erratic behavior on his warped understanding of God.
“[M]y opinion about god before this happened—before the pain struck, before my world had crumbled—was art, love and God, they all mean the same thing—they’re synonymous,” LaBeouf said.
The actor reported that this definition of God led him to think of himself as a kind of god.
“[A]s an artist who creates art, I found myself in a godly position,” he explained.
He said that this perception led him to take too much responsibility for the world’s condition and that he had to create the meaning of his life.
“It felt like my managerial skills are what are going to amount to a fulfilled existence,” he said.
When, his “managerial skills” failed to produce meaning and his “life had led to serious infliction of pain and damage on other people,” LaBeouf said he “threw up his hands.”
He reported feeling “like my plans are garbage and I don’t want to be here anymore.”
The failure to organize his life led to erratic and destructive behavior that isolated LaBeouf from his occupation, society and family. The Daily Caller quoted LaBeouf’s saying at this time, “Nobody wants to talk to me, including my mother.”
It again quoted LaBeouf, explaining that he was suicidal because of his inability to play the role of God. “I had a gun on the table. I was outta here.”
At this point in his life, LaBeouf had not received a job offer in a long time. However, a director he respected, Bad Lietenant director Abel Ferrara, offered him a part to play in the forthcoming Padre Pio.
So, LaBeouf accepted the role and began researching the Catholic saint, who died in 1968 and was canonized by the late Pope John Paul II.
Ferrara required LaBeouf to go to a seminary to research his new part. Accordingly, he began living in his truck in the parking lot of a local seminary.
While living in his vehicle, a seminary resident told him he had to read the Gospels if he was to play Saint Padre Pio.
LaBeouf said that the message he received from reading the Gospels was to “let go,” stop controlling everything and let God direct his life.
He was welcomed into the seminary community, and through friendship and prayer, LaBeouf converted to Catholicism and found peace.
