Matthew McConaughey reveals he 'had to leave Hollywood for two years' and explains why

Matthew McConaughey has revealed he had to 'leave Hollywood for two years', with him almost quitting acting all together.

From Killer Joe to Interstellar, and Dallas Buyers Club to The Wolf of Wall Street, the 54-year-old has had quite the career and he appears to have no plans in stopping anytime soon.

That doesn't mean McConaughey hasn't considered retirement though, as he revealed in an interview with Glen Powell for Interview Magazine.

He said: "I've usually zigged when I felt like Hollywood wanted me to zag. When I had my rom-com years, there was only so much bandwidth I could give to those, and those were some solid hits for me.

Matthew McConaughey almost quit acting. (Rick Kern/Getty Images)

"But I wanted to try some other stuff. Of course I wasn't getting it, so I had to leave Hollywood for two years."

The uncertain time led to a lot of talking, and thankfully, McConaughey had his wife, Camila Alves, to confide in.

"Dude, it was scary. I had long talks with my wife about needing to find a new vocation," he said. "I think I'm going to teach high school classes. I think I'm going to study to be a conductor. I think I'm going to go be a wildlife guide.

"I honestly thought, 'I stepped out of Hollywood. I got out of my lane, the lane Hollywood said I should stay in', and Hollywood's like, 'Well, f**k you, dude. You should have stayed in your lane. Later'."

The actor continued: "It was scary. The days are long — the sense of insignificance. But I made up my mind that that's what I needed to do, so I wasn't going to pull the parachute and quit the mission I was on.

The actor had to 'leave Hollywood'. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)

"But it was scary, because I didn't know if I was ever going to get out of the desert."

Of course, McConaughey has achieved an awful lot of success in his career, but his achievements in Hollywood have not come without its anxieties.

McConaughey added: "For me, going back to A Time to Kill, after I first had a big success in a major studio picture and became famous, I remembered that the Thursday before that movie opened, there's 100 scripts out there that I would've done, and 99 of them I could not book.

"Over that one weekend, 99 no's became 99 yeses.

"I was like, 'What? Three days ago, I'd have done any of these! And now you're asking me which one I want to do?' It was a hell of a shocking thing. I chucked on a backpack and went to Peru for three weeks just so I could hear myself think."