Dakota Johnson is speaking out about her Peanut Butter Falcon co-star Shia LaBeouf’s 2017 arrest and sharing her side of the “difficult journey.”
During her appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show, the actress discussed LaBeouf’s arrest (depicted in his current autobiographical film, Honey Boy) for disorderly conduct, public intoxication and obstruction of justice that took place while the two were on location in Georgia for the movie.
She even opened up about feeing “protective” over the 33-year-old actor, and their co-star Zack Gottsagen.
“I felt very protective of him and I felt very like, that’s a really terrifying and difficult journey for somebody to experience. And I felt really aware of that,” Johnson said. “We were there to make this movie and Zack is really a phenomenal human being and…you feel very awake to the truth of life and humanity and love and people and real connections when you’re with him.”
Gottsagen is an actor with Down syndrome who plays a young man looking to become a wrestler. And while LaBeouf’s character takes Gottsagen’s under his wing in the film, the movie’s actors have said that their relationship was much the same in real life. LaBeouf has since said that Gottsagen was an instrumental part of his recovery.
Read more: LaBeouf says playing his own dad was like ‘an exorcism’
“I think that that was just a kind of a very important moment for Shia,” Johnson continued. “I don’t condemn people for their mistakes. I want them to get through it, so that’s what I tried to do.”
— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) July 12, 2017
LaBeouf made a public apology on Twitter after the arrest and has since been working on maintaining his sobriety.
In November, the actor paid tribute to the police officers who arrested him in Georgia.
The actor was accepting an award for screenwriting for his new movie Honey Boy at the Hollywood Film Awards when he credited the law for putting him on a new path.
“I want to thank the police officer who arrested me in Georgia,” he said, to whoops from the crowd, “for changing my life.”
He added: “I want to thank my therapist and my sponsor for saving my life [and] my parents for giving my life.”
