There are many infamous tales of masculinity (toxic or otherwise) that have floated through Hollywood over the decades. One of the more amusing ones is the claim that Shia LaBeouf knocked Tom Hardy out when they were working on Lawless, adding fuel to the fiery claim that LaBeouf is kind of a dick.
As it turns out, the truth is far less confrontational than what we’ve been led to believe and involves more nudity than anyone expected.
Appearing on the hot wing eating YouTube series, Hot Ones, LaBeouf said the rumour that he knocked out Hardy is “a bunch of bulls**t.” He clarified to host Sean Evans that he and his Lawless co-star had no bad blood and got into friendly fighting matches all the time.
As for how the rumour started, LaBeouf revealed he was with his girlfriend one day when Hardy burst into their bedroom without warning and started an impromptu wrestling match. As the pair went at it, they ended up out in the hallway before Hardy accidentally fell down the stairs and hurt his back.
Oh and Shia was naked the entire time he was getting manhandled by Hardy. Yeah.
Anyway, rather than reveal the actual truth to the Lawless film crew, Hardy instead told everyone LaBeouf knocked him out. To be fair, “Shia knocked me out” sounds a lot better than “I wrestled Shia while he was naked and I lost when I fell down the stairs.”
LaBeouf’s weird yet entertaining nude wrestling story on Hot Ones begins at around the 17:40 mark.
So the moral of this story about Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy? Um, if you’re working with Tom, maybe lock your bedroom door or he’ll come in while you’re in the nude and start an impromptu WWE match while your partner is watching.
Let’s go with that.