Matthew McConaughey has opened up about his 8-year estrangement from his mother, Kay McConaughey, and how he worked with her to repair their relationship.
It was a difficult time for him
In an interview published on Saturday, September 27, the 55-year-old actor told People magazine that he didn’t speak to his mother for eight years because she was sharing a bit too much information with the press.
He would keep their calls short
McConaughey recalled, “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.”
His life would end up on the news
“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,” the actor added.
The interview also featured his mother, who shared her side of the estrangement.
She said they were on a break
“We were on a hiatus,” Kay told the outlet as McConaughey smiled and said they ‘had some boring conversations on Sunday. I wouldn’t tell you s***.”
“I took people through the house and said, ‘Well, this is where Matthew slept,’” the mother said.
The actor was told about his mother’s interviews
“Someone called him and said, ‘Are you watching what your mama’s doing?’ But I was so proud that I was just telling the world,” Kay added.
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It took some time before the pair could repair their relationship.
McConaughey explained how it got better
Explaining how things got better, the actor said he ‘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.’
Now, McConaughey’s mother started to ‘go to red carpets’ with him, asking if there were ‘any rules’ on what she could say.
He told her she could say whatever she wants
Now that he’s at a stable place in his career, the actor lets his mother talk about whatever she wants.
“I was like ‘No rules at all. Tell all the raunchiest things you want.’ And she did and it was fine. It’s much more fun now,” McConaughey shared.
It was difficult but they made things work
In a different interview on The Howard Stern Show in 2020, McConaughey said that the estrangement was ‘a sad time’ for him, before they could repair things.
“There’s always forgiveness. I just tried to bide my time,” he said.
