There's no explaining it: Josh Brolin on his 2004 arrest for domestic violence

Opening up about his 2004 arrest for domestic violence, actor Josh Brolin says it is hard for him to put it in words.

Brolin was arrested in 2004 after his then wife Diane Lane phoned police claiming that he had hit her. The actor was charged with spousal battery.

The couple, who had married just months before the incident, later termed it a misunderstanding and Lane declined to press charges. They remained married for nine years before filing for divorce in 2013.

"God, I've never been so careful with my words. Ever. Maybe in all 50 years. And there's no reason for me to be other than there's no explaining it. Do you know what I mean? The only person who can explain that would be Diane, and she's chosen not to, so I'm O.K. with that," Brolin told the New York Times.

While Lane declined to comment for her ex-husband's profile in the newspaper, Brolin said he is more control of his behaviour now.

"I was more reactive, I was more, 'People need to know the truth,'" Brolin said of his initial reaction to the incident.

"Whatever I say (now) is going to sound like compensation for a perpetrator. I've gotten to a place where all that matters is that I have control over my behaviour, and at that time, it was a little more chaotic."