There’s one Hollywood figure who’s still on Shia LaBeouf‘s side: Mel Gibson.
The 58-year-old “Lethal Weapon” star, no stranger to controversy himself, expressed sympathy for the troubled actor in a video interview with Indie Wire posted online Tuesday.
“You’re a target. And you have to be really adept at tap dancing and dodging the bullets. And sometimes you get hit. And sometimes mortally,” Gibson told the website. “It’s pretty bad.”
“When I see someone like Shia LaBeouf with the bag on his head and stuff, my heart goes out to the poor guy. I think he’s suffering in some way,” he continued, making reference to the actor’s bizarre apology tour after he was caught plagiarizing the work of cartoonist Daniel Clowes.
“Why would he do that? People are inclined to sort of point the finger at him and say that he’s this, that, or the other. It’s easy to judge. But I’m sure he’s going through some kind of personal, very painful, cathartic thing that he has to exorcise and get out there. He’ll probably play it out and come back. Whatever it happens to be. He’ll be all right. I actually like the kid. I think he’s good. I never met him, but I like him.”
The veteran actor and director, who was at one point one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars, knows what he’s talking about, too. In 2006, Gibson’s career all but came to a stop after he went on an anti-Semitic rant while being arrested for driving under the influence.
Four years later, a recording of Gibson threatening former partner Oksana Grigorieva (with whom he has a daughter) surfaced, undoing any progress the actor had made.
Last week, LaBeouf’s representatives announced that the “Transformers” star was seeking help for alcohol addiction.
Just days earlier, the actor was arrested and charged with two counts of disorderly conduct, one count of criminal trespassing and one count of harassment after a meltdown during a performance of “Cabaret” in New York.