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Matthew McConaughey has revealed how an exchange trip in rural Australia in his late teens shaped him as a person and led to him winning an Oscar.
The American actor, 52, was stripped of all the 'crutches' he had growing up in Texas after moving to Warnervale, a small town on the central coast of NSW, in 1988.
He explained in his new memoir, Greenlights, how he had no friends in Australia and found himself working six jobs.
Candid: Matthew McConaughey (pictured on January 21) has revealed how his Australian gap year in 1988 shaped him as a person after his pampered upbringing in Texas
Matthew described his gap year as 'tread[ing] water until I crossed the finish line'.
'I begun to realise how valuable and enduring that year in Australia was for me, how I wouldn't be the man I am today, unless I had taken that year,' Matthew wrote.
'How I wouldn't have learnt the lessons if I would've come home early.'
He contrasted his
