Matthew McConaughey reveals in his new memoir, Greenlights, that he was sexually abused as a teenager.

In the book, the actor shared that he was “blackmailed” at 15.

“I was blackmailed into having sex for the first time when I was 15,” he wrote. “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.”

He also briefly mentioned an instance in which he was “molested by a man when I was 18 while knocked unconscious in the back of a van.”

“I’ve never felt like a victim,” he wrote. “I have a lot of proof that the world is conspiring to make me happy.”

On writing the book, Matthew told reporters, “I’ve been keeping a diary for 36 years; a couple of years ago, my wife gave me a kick in the backside to say: ‘You’ve been talking about sitting down with those for 36 years and seeing what it is for a while. Now’s the time. Get out of here.’”

“I noticed many red lights and yellow lights that I had in my life earlier, that with time turned green,” he explained to People. “With time I saw, even hard, tragic things — I noticed they are things that can work for everyone. The death of a loved one, it’s a red light — for me, my father moving on was a big red light — but then I’ve noticed when I looked in my journals how much … things he taught me kept him alive by what I learned from him and the man I try to be daily. That’s a green light of his moving on.”

What a brave move to write about such a traumatic experience. We can’t wait to read it. Thank you for sharing, Matthew!