LaBeouf accepting of poor background

LOS ANGELES, June 13 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Shia LaBeouf, star of the "Transformers" films, says he is proud of the fact he grew up as a member of a family living in poverty.

LaBeouf told Parade magazine being the child of two struggling artists, he earned "scars" from his time in poverty that he now uses to enrich his life, the magazine reported Thursday.

"Now that I'm not poor, I know that is what it was. Like Hemingway said, you can't write anything if you've never been shot at or been gorged by a bull, you know?" LaBeouf said, referring to author Ernest Hemingway. "So I look back at that stuff and I'm grateful. It's like scars. You become proud of them."

The actor, whose other film credits include "Disturbia" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," credited his family's financial difficulties with leading him into a life of acting.

"I just knew that money was a solution to whatever the hell was going on in my household," he told Parade. "With money, I and my family would have had more options. So I went after a job that I thought I could make the most money for a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old boy."