Matthew McConaughey opens up about being sexually abused as a teenager

Matthew McConaughey has revealed why he chose not to go into detail after revealing how he was "molested by a man" when he was a teenager.

The Academy Award-winning actor's revelations are featured in his new memoirs, titled Greenlights, which was released last month.

In excerpts of the new book, shared by The Independent, the 50-year-old actor writes that he was "molested by a man when I was 18 while knocked unconscious in the back of a van."

In addition, McConaughey added: "I was blackmailed into having sex for the first time when I was 15. I was certain I was going to hell for the premarital sex.

"Today, I am merely certain that I hope that’s not the case."

Now, during an appearance on the Tamron Hall talk show, the Interstellar star revealed why he chose not to go into more detail regarding the abuse.

McConaughey said: "Ultimately, there’s nothing that I feel is constructive about the details.

"I feel like those details, unless I had a really good constructive way that I saw it that could be relatable to other people, I felt like those details could have just been grabbed and reported for voyeurism.

"They could’ve been the thing that every single show was going to go ‘Read about the details of when Matthew was molested,’ or ‘Read about when he got blackmailed,’ and that’s the wrong headline,”

"I write also in the book I’ve never felt like a victim.

"Those two events happened to me at 15 and 18. If they would’ve happened to me younger, maybe I would’ve been more confused.

"But when they happened to me, it was very clear to me, that they were wrong, that they were not ideal, that they were not how it’s supposed to be."

He added: "So I think having that clarity means that it’s probably why it didn’t stick with me and confuse me later on or left me having a non-realistic view of the way the world is supposed to work."

The actor also revealed how he wrote his memoirs while isolating in desert for 52 days, with no electricity, in order to write the memoir.

McConaughey added that the writing process was aided by the fact he has been keeping a diary for over 36 years.

Promoting his new book as part of a cover story with People, McConaughey admits that his parents had a tumultuous relationship - marrying each other three separate times. But he says that all the bad times were "superseded by the love".

He said: "Look, they were, at times, violent. As I say in the book, that is how they communicated. They were divorced twice, married three times, I mean, yeah, it was like the Pacific Ocean in a storm, you know?

"But as I say in the book, those moments were so quickly - always, 100% of the time - so quickly superseded by the love and the humanity."