United Kingdom, Oct. 15 -- Matthew McConaughey once "spent two days" in the desert reading bad reviews about himself.

The 56-year-old actor has admitted he gained a better understanding of how much stock he should place in reviews of his work after bringing together 20 years of negative press for a solo trip.

Appearing on the Build or Break podcast, he said: "[I] went away to the desert for a week and I took them all in this big thick book. I read every one. All the negative reviews - I'm sorry, not all the positive reviews, the negative ones.

"And I sat, and it's all I [did], I spent two days with them. It was hard. Some of the reviews, what I learned, is that from the very first sentence, 'Oh, this person has it out for me.'

"It did...