THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE star Eric Balfour is comfortable taking his clothes off in most situations - because he spent much of his growing years on a nudist colony.

The 26-year-old actor's mother worked on a nudist camp in California and, as a result, much of Balfour's time was spent free of clothing.

He says, "When I was younger we hung out at this place a lot in Big Sur, up near San Francisco. The only way I could rebel was to try to put clothes on, but my mom would lie to me and say she lost my bathing suit to get me to go in the pool naked."

But Balfour claims his free upbringing did have a huge benefit - it strengthened his penis.

He explains, "I think the whole point is that you gain a natural strength down there. 'Strong like bull' type of thing. It also keeps it so fresh and so clean, like Outkast would say."

31/10/2003 20:10