Liam Neeson hasn’t been able to go to confession since he was a teenager over a dispute over masturbation.
The Northern Irish actor described the incident in one The clip was released on Friday for an upcoming episode of Conan O’Brien’s podcast. In the video, he detailed how his honesty with a traveling missionary kept him from confessing forever.
“I had learned to have fun on the sheets at home,” Neeson began, saying he also looked up the word.
“‘Masturbate’? ‘Masturbation’?” He continued, re-enacting the moment. “Okay, that seems harmless enough. I will say that.”
During his confession, 15-year-old Neeson deftly began discussing boring trifles about arguments with his family before finally revealing that he had been masturbating.
He said the missionary shouted so loudly that “right in front of the confessional, old women began to kneel and say their prayers.” Neeson told O’Brien that the man’s “booming” voice allowed them to “hear everything.”
“You what?!” Neeson said, mimicking the missionary.
“This guy literally said things like, ‘The grass will grow out of your palm before you’re 21!’ Stop this evil practice!’” Neeson added. “He screams that! That was the last time I was there.”
Lee Jinman/Associated Press
Neeson, who was an amateur fighter in his teens, told O’Brien that he was “still boxing” at the time of the confession. He recalled that it is usually a “great event” when a missionary comes to town from Africa and that it is “a big deal” to go to confession with a missionary.
In 2014, the actor became said GQ that visitors were like these “odd fellows,” but added that “there were a lot of good men — and women too.” Neeson, who was named Liam after a local priest, also told the outlet that he said the Mass in Latin from learned from a priest who “trained” him for the job.
Neeson’s full conversation with O’Brien is should fall on Monday.
