Names and faces
Actor Shia LaBeouf, known for his off-screen troubles as well as his film roles, has converted to Catholicism after being confirmed on New
Year’s Eve at a Mass presided over by Capuchin Franciscan friars. The Capuchin Franciscans-Western American Province announced the news on its Facebook site where it posted images of a smiling LeBeouf receiving Communion, kneeling with his eyes shut in prayer at Mass and hugging friars who attended the ceremony. The sacramental ceremony was held at Old Mission Santa Inés Parish in Solvang, Calif., the same friary where LaBeouf — who has acknowledged alcoholism and faced abuse allegations — trained for months for his role as one of Italy’s best-known and most revered saints in the 2022 film, “Padre Pio.” LaBeouf first gained fame as a teenager on the Disney Channel show “Even Stevens,” and is best known for his roles in 2007’s “Transformers” and in 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.” He has had several run-ins with the law during his career, including a 2017 New York City arrest for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct that was captured on a livestreamed video. He was sent to court-mandated rehabilitation. LaBeouf, who has been accused by a former girlfriend of abuse, spent months in the California friary preparing for his role in “Padre Pio.” The actor has said the chance to play the mystic Capuchin monk best known for having displayed the “stigmata” wounds of Christ — he bled from his hands, feet and sides — was a miracle for him personally. LaBeouf said last year in an interview with Bishop Robert Barron, of the Winona-Rochester diocese in Minnesota, that he was agnostic before turning to Catholicism. He said he had a bar mitzvah as a 13-yearold boy but never embraced the Jewish faith.
TV producer Nigel Lythgoe said Friday that he is stepping aside as a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance” after lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault, including one from Paula Abdul. Lythgoe is also co-creator and executive producer of the Fox dance competition series, whose 18th season is set to start in March. “I have informed the producers of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ of my decision to step back from participating in this year’s series,” Lythgoe, 74, said in a statement. “I did so with a heavy heart but entirely voluntarily because this great program has always been about dance and dancers, and that’s where its focus needs to remain. In the meantime, I am dedicating myself to clearing my name and restoring my reputation.” Abdul alleged in a lawsuit filed Dec. 30 that Lythgoe twice assaulted her — first in the early 2000s when she was an “American Idol” judge and again about a decade later when she was a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance,” which she left after two seasons. Lythgoe called the allegations an “appalling smear” that he intends to fight.