Charlie Hunnam Goes Shirtless For V Man, Talks "Destructive" Decision Turning Down "50 Shades"

The English actor strips down for the latest issue of V Man 34, where he shows off his hot bod while appearing shirtless in just leather pants for the photo spread.

Hunnam made headlines when he was announced to play Christian Grey in the movie adaptation of E.L. James' novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" back in 2013. The actor later turned down the role, which went to Jamie Dornan.

While plenty of time has passed, Charlie still has some remorse about backing out of the project. "Oh, it was the worst professional experience of my life," he tells the mag (via E!).

"It was the most emotionally destructive and difficult thing that I've ever had to deal with professionally," the 35-year-old adds. "It was heartbreaking."

The "King Arthur" actor's previous commitment to the film "Crimson Peak," directed by Guillermo del Toro, and the final season of "Sons of Anarchy" clashed with the shooting schedule of "Fifty Shades," which forced Charlie to make the tough decision.

"I'd given Guillermo my word, over a year before, that I was going to do this film. People were saying, 'Are you crazy? Guillermo still has got four months to recast, it's the fourth lead, you can go and do this [instead].' I said, 'I can't. He's my friend, I've done a film with him, I gave him my word.' I'm pretty mercurial and a very difficult, long-winded decision-maker at the best of times," he explains. "It was deeply unpleasant and challenging emotionally. I really, really pride myself on being a professional and a man of keeping my word. It means a lot to me, truly."

It sounds like "Fifty Shades" director Sam Taylor-Johnson was just as upset about Charlie's decision as we were, too.

"I called her and we both cried our eyes out on the phone for 20 minutes," he reveals. "I needed to tell her that this was not going to work. I was going to finish Sons, shoot the whole sequence where Tara was brutally murdered, fly to Vancouver the next day, have 10 days of rehearsal, and then start shooting. Then I was going to have three days after that and I'd have to start shooting Crimson Peak and then I'd have two days to travel and go back into season seven of Sons."

"There was a lot of personal stuff going on in my life that left me on real emotional shaky ground and mentally weak," he continues. "I just got myself so f--king overwhelmed and I was sort of having panic attacks about the whole thing. I just didn't know what to do."

One thing is for certain, the actor did not turn down the role for it's racy material!

"The outside perception of that was that I got really cold feet and got scared of the explicit nature of the sexuality of the piece. When I was 18 I was getting f--ked in the ass, completely naked on national TV, you know?" he says, while referring to his stint on Showtime's "Queer as Folk."