Olivia Wilde had ‘responsibility’ to fire Shia LaBeouf from ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ to ‘protect’ cast

She didn’t want anyone to worry.

Olivia Wilde is finally peeling back the curtain on her “responsibility” to axe Shia LaBeouf from her sophomore directorial outing, “Don’t Worry Darling.”

“I say this as someone who his such an admirer of his work,” the “Booksmart” director, 38, told Variety in a new interview. “His process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions. He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances.

“I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their work,” she continued.

“Ultimately, my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them. That was my job.”

“A lot came to light after this happened that really troubled me, in terms of his behavior,” Wilde told the outlet, adding that as a proponent of “restorative justice,” she wishes LaBeouf “health and evolution.”

“But for our film, what we really needed was an energy that was incredibly supportive,” she continued. “But for our film, what we really needed was an energy that was incredibly supportive. Particularly with a movie like this, I knew that I was going to be asking Florence [Pugh] to be in very vulnerable situations, and my priority was making her feel safe and making her feel supported.”

LaBeouf sees things differently, telling Variety he left of his own accord.

The Variety report say the actor share email he said he had sent to Wilde saying, “You and I both know the reasons for my exit. I quit your film because your actors and I couldn’t find time to rehearse.”

LaBeouf’s exit from the hotly anticipated star-studded psychological thriller — which now stars Wilde’s now-boyfriend Harry Styles in his place — came just months before his already-tumultuous reputation was further upended in December 2020. At that time, FKA twigs sued the “Disturbia” star, 36, for sexual battery during their relationship.

The former couple started dating after they worked together on 2019′s “Honey Boy,” based on LaBeouf’s semi-autobiographical script about his complicated relationship with his dad.

The 34-year-old Grammy nominee, born Tahliah Debrett Barnett, earlier this year, told GQ that she filed the suit as she “just didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, and that trumped any way that I felt about what people may think about me now, positively or negatively.”

On the heels of the allegations, a lawyer for LaBeouf said that the actor was “actively seeking ... treatment that he desperately needs.” By February, LaBeouf was reportedly in treatment.