Robert Pattinson was bullied at school - because of his passion for acting.

The 'Twilight' heartthrob's teen years were made tough because the people he studied with tormented him over his thespian ambitions, but he admits his attitude may have contributed to his unpopularity.

Pattinson - who was a pupil at The Harrodian School in west London - said: "I got beaten up by a lot of people when I was younger. I was a bit of an idiot, but I always thought the assaults were unprovoked. It was after I first started acting and I liked to behave like an actor, or how I thought an actor was supposed to be, and that apparently provoked a lot of people into hitting me."

Although the 23-year-old star avoided violence at school, he enjoyed getting physical for his role in new movie 'Remember Me', in which he plays Tyler Hawkins a rebellious young man living in New York city and trying to cope with the suicide of his brother.

He added in an interview with Parade.com: "I related to Tyler in that I wish I could have done things like he did when I had the opportunity. There is something quite satisfying about being a little bit more reckless and even fighting. It's quite cathartic to just sort of randomly start hitting someone. It was fun kind of, letting all your rage go on the set. We had this big scene where I punch out some guys."