AceShowbiz - Robert Pattinson's recent taped appearance on U.S. chat show "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" turned into a therapy session when he recalled his childhood torment at the hands of a mean teacher. The "Twilight" hunk appeared on comedienne Ellen DeGeneres' show on Wednesday, April 20 to promote new movie "Water for Elephants" and when the chat turned to how much he cared about animals, he recalled a mean-spirited teacher who tipped his snail collection in the rubbish bin at school.

He recalled, "Everybody used to chuck snails at each other at school and I used to try and save them and not only did I get in trouble for it, I got suspended for doing it... It's a big life lesson I learned: 'Never try and do anything nice!' " Pattinson revealed he picked up all the snails and created a "little snail land" sanctuary at the back of his classroom - but his teacher did not approve.

He added, "For some reason, I had a strange compassion for snails only for the teacher to chuck them all in the trash at the end." And the TV therapy session didn't end there. He went on, "She also confiscated my pack of Top Trumps (cards) and gave them to her son... I saw them a year later. Her son was such an idiot. He didn't even recognise the value of them."

"I can't believe I'm saying that... It's one of my only memories of childhood."