Embattled actor and left-wing activist Shia LaBeouf is blaming his rage-fueled behavior and a drunken, racist rant that landed him in handcuffs last July on “white privilege.”

“What went on in Georgia was mortifying,” LaBeouf says in an Esquire profile of his arrest in Savannah for public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and obstruction. “White privilege and desperation and disaster… It came from a place of self-centered delusion… It was me trying to absolve myself of guilt for getting arrested.”

The Transformers star was caught on camera last year telling a black officer that he is going “straight to hell” because he is black. LeBeouf was taken into custody after cursing and calling an officer a “stupid bitch.”

The former child star apologized via Twitter days later, saying he was “ashamed” of his behavior and that he has been “struggling with addiction publicly for far too long.”

In the Esquire profile, titled, “Shia LaBeouf is Ready to Talk About It,” the actor says of his past behavior, “I fucked up.”

Once a rising star in Hollywood and a fixture for blockbuster films, LaBeouf began focusing on political activism after the election of Donald Trump. His anti-Trump “He Will Not Divide Us” live stream project was a lightning rod for controversy and led to LaBeouf’s arrest last February.

Now the 31-year-old is trying to salvage his declining film career, saying he’s ready to “take ownership of my sh– and clean up my side of the street a bit before I can go out there and work again.”

“I’ve been falling forward for a long time. Most of my life,” he explained. “The truth is, in my desperation, I lost the plot.”

LaBeouf is next set to star in Borg McEnroe, which follows the great tennis rivalry between Swedish tennis legend Björn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) and American tennis icon John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf).

Read the full profile here.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson