Shia LaBeouf had some very strange parents, says David Hochman in Playboy. The 22-year-old actor came of age in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, the son of two free spirits. “My dad was working as a clown, so clown makeup and clown outfits were all over the place. There was a chicken living in the apartment. Sometimes I’d see my dad doing this Dances With Wolves Zen kind of chicken dance, trying to get the chicken to get comfy with him.” LaBeouf’s hippie mother viewed clothing as optional. “The nudity was weird, especially when her friends came over. My mom would be playing naked connect the dots or whatever. She’s in the middle of a bunch of naked women tracing auras around one another’s bodies with incense and then sitting together and humming for prolonged periods.” Still, LaBeouf didn’t yearn for normality. “Kids came over to my house so they could do all the things they couldn’t get away with at home. Staying up all night. Playing with fireworks. I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. When you’re a kid, that seems cool.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why some people remember dreams and others don'tUnder The Radar Age, attitude and weather all play a part in dream recall
-
The Week contest: Hotel sealPuzzles and Quizzes
-
New FBI Director Kash Patel could profit heavily from foreign interestsThe Explainer Patel holds more than $1 million in Chinese fashion company Shein
