Matthew McConaughey's life in high school was like something from a teen movie.
He earned straight As in his final year, as well as the title of 'most handsome'. He had a job, a car, a girlfriend and a golf handicap worthy of a pro.
But at the age of 18, a year spent on exchange in Australia stripped all that away.
Watch: Matthew McConaughey on how his year in Australia made him who he is.
While the Oscar-winning actor has previously touched on his time on the NSW Central Coast, his recently released memoir, Greenlights, has revealed just how bizarre and transformative it really was.
In October book-tour interviews, his time there in 1988 has been likened to a horror film, a nightmare, The Twilight Zone, even The Shining — "scream as loud as you want; no one can hear," he said of the town in which he stayed.
Jokingly... Right?
McConaughey was placed with a family he refers to as 'The Dooleys' through the Rotary International exchange program. The household consisted of a middle-aged married couple and their then-26-year-old son.
Speaking to the Armchair Expert Podcast, the Dallas Buyers Club star described a series of unusual events that took place in the house; from being chastised for using the word "genius" to describe the inventor of the cheeseburger ("You will learn... to not voice your opinion for the masses!") to being instructed to kiss his host-brother's girlfriend.
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