Shia LaBeouf Admits ‘Honey Boy’ Was “F*cking Nonsense” & Says He “Wronged” His Father With His Portrayal

Shia LaBeouf has been the subject of intense controversy over the past several years. From his multiple arrests and reports of erratic behavior to the more recent allegations of physical abuse from one of his ex-partners, the actor is seemingly always in the crosshairs. Well, after being silent for quite a while, LaBeouf is now coming clean about his substance abuse, the allegations against him, and a lot of other issues he’s been facing. And it appears he’s ready to talk more openly and honestly about his 2019 feature, “Honey Boy.”

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In a recent episode of the Real Ones podcast, hosted by Jon Bernthal, Shia LaBeouf talked extensively about his recovery, as well as some new information about the creation of his award-winning film, “Honey Boy.” Apparently, the autobiographical film, written by LaBeouf and directed by Alma Har’el is more fictional than he led everyone to believe. 

“Honey Boy” is a film about a child actor who is regularly abused, both physically and verbally, by his manager/father. The drama is said to be based extensively on the relationship between LaBeouf and his own father during the time when the actor was a child doing Disney Channel productions. Well, it appears LaBeouf took a lot of artistic liberty with his own story, particularly with how he presented his father. 

“Here’s a man who I’ve done vilified on a grand scale,” LaBeouf said. “I wrote this narrative, which was just fucking nonsense. My dad was so loving to me my whole life. Fractured, sure. Crooked, sure. Wonky, for sure. But never was not loving, never was not there. He was always there … and I’d done a world press tour about how fucked he was as a man.”

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LaBeouf also recounted when his father saw the finished film and noticed that the portrayal was very different than the original script sent to him. 

“‘Honey Boy’ is basically a big ‘woe is me’ story about how fucked my father is, and I wronged him,” he said. “I remember getting on the phone with him, and him being like, ‘I never read this stuff in the script you sent.’ Because I didn’t put that shit in there.”

The actor said that he would send scripts without key moments in the film “just trying to get him to sign this piece of paper.” Then he would make changes after his dad signed off on it.

LaBeouf added, “I turned the knob up on certain shit that wasn’t real.”

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Now, it seems as if LaBeouf is attempting to make amends with the people he’s wronged in the past, as part of his recovery, presumably. And as such, he is now taking the responsibility for painting a picture of his father that wasn’t true. 

“My dad never hit me, never,” said LaBeouf. “He spanked me once, one time. And the story that gets painted in ‘Honey Boy’ is, this dude is abusing his kid all the time.”

He added, “So, when I got on the phone with him, I took accountability for all of that and knew very clearly that I couldn’t take it back, and my dad was gonna live with this certain narrative about him on a public scale for a very long time, probably the rest of his life.”

“Honey Boy” would go on to premiere at Sundance and would eventually go on to be included in a lot of Best Of lists. The film eventually was nominated for multiple Film Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for LaBeouf, who portrayed his father in the film.