Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has opened up about the abuse he suffered as a child - insisting it is the reason he turned to a career in music.

He claims to have suffered years of sexual abuse throughout his childhood at the hands of an older male friend.

Bennington insists the traumatic experiences forced him to express his feelings through writing poems and song lyrics.

The 31-year-old believes forming his first band, Grey Daze, helped save his life. It was an awful time. I hated everyone in my family. I felt abandoned by my mum, my dad was not very emotionally stable then, and there was no one I could turn to. The relationship I had with that band was the first time I felt a connection with anybody. From then on, I started getting some confidence back. I also found it a good way to escape the abuse of my past."