Matthew McConaughey reveals he did not have his seatbelt on when flight dropped 4,000ft

Matthew McConaughey has shared the terrifying moment a plane he was travelling on unexpectedly dropped 4,000ft.

The actor, 53, and his wife Camila Alves, 41, were flying from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany on March 1 when the plane was diverted to Washington DC after severe turbulence injured seven people.

In the days after the incident, Brazilian model Alves shared a brief video on her Instagram which showed food, food trays, shelves and other items littering the aisle due to the turbulence.

In a snippet from SiriusXM’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast with Kelly Ripa, obtained by Entertainment Tonight, the Oscar-winner revealed that he didn’t have his seatbelt on at that moment.

He said: “It’s suspended disbelief. I mean, it’s zero gravity. Your red wine and the glass and the plates that your food was on are all suspended, floating, still just in the air.

“And to look at it for that long, which wasn’t that long — one, two, three, four [seconds] — and then everything just comes crashing down.

McConaughey was travelling with his wife Camila Alves at the time (Getty Images)

“My tray table is what held me down. I did not have my seatbelt on, and there was not a seatbelt warning right before it happened.”

McConaughey explained that he “reached over” to make sure that his wife was safe and revealed they were fortunately sat beside a pilot friend, who reassured them.

He continued: “As a person who’s not a pilot, my mind goes to the actual engineering of the plane. The steel, it buckled. And you go, ‘How can something withstand that?’

“I happened to have a friend of mine sitting next to me who was a pilot. And he was calm as could be. I was like, ‘Can the plane hold that?’ And he was like, ‘These things are so tested, that yes, don’t worry, the plane structurally can hold that.’ That was a big relief.

“I was like, ‘If something’s wrong, can you fly this thing?’ And he was like, ‘No problem.’ And I was like, ‘Great, love to hear that.’”

Last month, Alves shared their terrifying experience with fans on Instagram.

Alves, who described the flight as “chaos” shared: “On flight last night, plane dropped almost 4000 feet, seven people went to the hospital. Everything was flying everywhere.

“To respect the privacy of those around me that’s all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence keep on coming.

“The @lufthansa flight you are seeing on the news today!!!! Yes…that one. Thank God everyone was safe and ok.”

The incident came just months after Alves suffered a neck injury from falling down a flight of stairs.