Matthew McConaughey and his mother, Kay McConaughey, reflected on how their relationship has changed over the years.
The 55-year-old actor, his 93-year-old mother, and his 17-year-old son Levi, who are all starring together in the Apple TV+ movie “The Lost Bus,” recently sat down for a group interview with People magazine. While speaking with the outlet, Matthew recalled how his rise to fame caused a rift between him and his mother when she began leaking stories to the media.
“I’d say we’re closer now. We had about an eight-year period where I had to have short conversations with her on our Sunday phone calls because she was sharing a lot of that information,” the Oscar winner said.
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Matthew continued, “I’d tell her something on Sunday between son and mom, and Tuesday I’d read about it in the news or see it in the local paper. She couldn’t help herself.”
“We were on a hiatus,” Kay added.
“About eight years after that, I got stable enough with my own position and fame that I was like, ‘You know what? My mom can say whatever the hell she wants,'” Matthew said. “It’s much more fun now.”
Matthew and Kay previously opened up about their eight-year rift during a joint appearance on “Red Table Talk” in 2020.
“As soon as I got ‘famous’ after [1996’s] ‘A Time to Kill,’ I started to have my weekly Sunday call home to call my mother,” McConaughey said, per People magazine. “Mother wasn’t answering the phone. A fan of my fame was answering the phone.”
McConaughey continued, “I was trying to find my own balance with fame and stuff. And I would share things with her… some of those things I would share might show up in the six o’clock news three days later.”
The “Dallas Buyers Club” star recalled that he was stunned when he turned on his television and saw that his mother allowed camera crews to enter his childhood home, showing off his bedroom and sharing private family stories.
“I didn’t think you’d find out,” he remembered Kay telling him.
Matthew explained that the exchange led him to limit his conversations with Kay, saying, “I was not able to talk to her as my mom for about eight years.”
“There were years there where I would not share things with her because I was also finding my own balance,” he said. “I was like, ‘Look, mom, loose lips will sink ships. There are a lot of people that would like to know these things, and it’s none of their business.'”
Matthew shared that the two were able to mend their rift after he grew more comfortable with his career and fame.
“My boat was built well enough where I didn’t feel like she could sink it,” he recalled. “We healed that up in 2004.”
Looking back, Kay admitted that she was “enjoying his fame more than he was, I guess.”
Kay shared the actor and his older brothers, Michael “Rooster” McConaughey and Pat McConaughey, with their father James McConaughey, who died in 1992 at the age of 63. The two had a famously turbulent relationship. Kay and James’ first marriage ended in divorce, but they remarried — only to divorce again. Ultimately, the pair reconciled and married a third time, staying together until James’ death.
According to People, Kay, who is a retired teacher, now lives in Austin, Texas with Matthew’s family.
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During their interview with the outlet, Kay, who is called MaMac by her six grandchildren, shared her approach to parenting.
“You don’t want me to have to tell you twice,” Kay said.
“Bingo. That’s it,” Matthew agreed.
“I was strict but loving,” Kay added.
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The “True Detective” alum noted that he and his wife Camila Alves have a different parenting style. Matthew and the 42-year-old former model share Levi as well as daughter Vida, 15, and son Livingston, 12.
“In our family, Camila and I try to listen longer, try to understand,” he said. “Camila and I will explain more of what we mean by more than just, ‘I said so.’”
“I asked them, ‘Do you ever get in any kind of argument?’” Kay said. “And I don’t know which one said it, but it was more or less, ‘When we do, we don’t do it around the kids.’”
Levi is making his acting debut in “The Lost Bus,” which is based on the real-life story of school bus driver Kevin McKay — played by Matthew — who rescued 22 students from an elementary school and drove them to safety during the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California. Levi stars in the movie as his real-life father’s son while Kay is playing the mother of Matthew’s character.
“I had to badger him,” Levi told People of convincing Matthew to let him audition for the role.
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Matthew told People that he was “open” to Levi following in his footsteps and launching an acting career, though that had not always been the case.
“The first 15 years in Hollywood, I was like, ‘I’d never want my kid to grow up in the business,'” he remembered. “And when I hit about 40, right about the time we had Levi, I looked around at how many special people I’ve met in my life, how much travel and what an awesome, healthy, cool experience that’s been for me in my life. I was like, ‘Where are you coming up with this idea you don’t want any of your kids to do it?’ It’d be a privilege if they would be able to.”
Matthew also shared the advice that he had given to Levi about navigating the industry and the fame that can come with succeeding as an actor.
“I’ve tried to give him some tips that I’ve learned along the way, tried to give him some of those tips earlier than I understood them.” he said. “It’s hard to keep your feet on the ground to sift out the real stuff from the BS.”
“But over time, you’ve got to get that sixth sense,” McConaughey continued. “It’s important that he has his own ownership of who he is and becomes. And [acting] will be a part of that if he continues to do it, part of finding his identity, but it can’t be his full identity.
