Shia LeBoeuf Got Into Yale With A Recommendation Letter From Steven Spielberg
Image by Getty
Our society tends to focus so much on the downsides of being a child star (stunted adolescence, lack of an education, high rates of drug addiction and mental illness) that we forget about all the perks! Like, money, for example, or getting a college recommendation letter from the most famous director in the world.
In the first interview he’s given since he was arrested in Savannah, Georgia for public drunkenness, Shia LeBoeuf says that he once had a dream of attaining a higher education – and Steven Spielberg was the man he chose to recommend him.
Esquire’s Eric Sullivan writes of LeBoeuf, “For a time, he figured college offered an escape hatch, so he applied to Yale, bolstered by a letter of recommendation from Spielberg. He says he got in but decided not to go. He saved a copy of Spielberg’s letter. He keeps it in his safe.”
Had LeBoeuf pursued that particular ambition, it would’ve placed him in the ranks of our other favorite child star turned Ivy League graduate turned director and activist, Natalie Portman, who got her Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.
LeBoeuf, who attended court mandated rehab after TMZ leaked the expletive ridden video of his arrest, is promoting his new movie “Borg vs. McEnroe”, in which LeBoeuf plays tennis player John McEnroe.
Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Opinion Stephen Miller’s cavalier cruelty misses the whole point of Passover
- 3
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
- 4
Opinion Passover teaches us why Jews should stand with Mahmoud Khalil
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Jews thought Trump wanted to fight antisemitism. Why did he cut all of their grants?
-
Opinion Trump’s followers see a savior, but Jewish historians know a false messiah when they see one
-
Fast Forward Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil for undermining U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism, judge rules
-
Opinion This Passover, let’s retire the word ‘Zionist’ once and for all
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.