By India McCarty
Shia LaBeouf credits fellow actors Mel Gibson, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin for helping him get sober.
“[We’re] very close,” LaBeouf told The Hollywood Reporter of his relationship with Gibson. “Big respect, big love. He’s always been very lovely to me.”
The former child star said Gibson “held [his] hand” during some hard times, adding, “Dude really stepped up for me in big ways.”
“Him, Sean Penn, [Josh] Brolin — these guys got me to sobriety,” LaBeouf continued. “They got around me and kept me alive…There was a bunch of guys that I looked up to that just started popping up. I had never, ever felt that kind of love — not like that.”
Both Gibson and Brolin have been open about their own sobriety journeys.
Gibson has been sober since 2006, telling Australia’s Sunday Night Channel 7, “I am a member of [the] 12-step program and I achieved sobriety like that.”
Brolin has also shared details about his decision to stop drinking, writing in his memoir, From Under the Truck, “I was born to drink. I was birthed to drink. My mother drank exactly like I did, and I was raised to be a man and drink like the male equivalent of my mother.”
After visiting his 99-year-old grandmother’s deathbed, the actor “knew that was going to be the last time I drank.”
Penn has not publicly struggled with substance abuse but has supported his son Hopper, 31, as he got sober from an addiction to crystal meth.
“I went to rehab because I woke up in a hospital and my dad was like, ‘Rehab? Or bus bench?’” Hopper recalled in a 2017 interview with ES Magazine. “I was like, ‘I’ll take the bed.’”
LaBeouf has also leaned on his faith during his sobriety journey. The actor converted to Catholicism in 2023.
Related: Shia LaBeouf: ‘God Was Using My Ego to Draw Me to Him’
“The Capuchin Franciscan friars are overjoyed to welcome him into the fold and witness his deep commitment to his faith journey,” the Catholic religious order said, via AP News. “[LaBeouf] has embarked on a profound spiritual journey that has led him to embrace the teachings of the Catholic Church. His decision to fully enter the Church is a testament to his sincere desire to grow in his relationship with God and live out the Gospel values.”
LaBeouf’s appreciation and admiration for his peers who have supported him during his substance abuse issues is a reminder of the importance of supporting one another in hard times.
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