Matthew McConaughey's 88-Year-Old Mom Is Quarantining With Him and His Family
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Matthew McConaughey and his mom, Kay, appeared on the latest episode of Red Table Talk.
They opened up about their eight-year-long rough patch.
McConaughey wrote about his upbringing in his new book, Greenlights, which he discussed on the Oprah Conversation.
Matthew McConaughey and his mom, Kay, made a memorable appearance on the most recent episode of Red Table Talk, hosted by three generations of powerhouses: Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield Norris. Kay, now 88, is spending the quarantine in Texas with McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves, and their three children: Levi, 12, Vida, 10, and Livingston, 7.
"It's been really lovely. I'm enjoying being around my grandchildren. Matthew is a very good son. I'm going to give myself some credit for raising him right," Kay said. She added that she treats her grandchildren the same way she treated her sons, Matthew and his older brother, Mike "Rooster" McConaughey. "If they smart off to me, if doesn't turn out well," she said, laughing.
Though the Interstellar star and his mom are the picture of domestic tranquility right now, it wasn't always the case. If you've read Matthew McConaughey's new memoir, Greenlights, then you know there are things from his past that merit a trip to the Red Table—especially regarding his upbringing.
The book opens with a vivid scene of McConaughey's parents physically fighting in front of 5-year-old Matthew, and then getting frisky. The scene encapsulates the McConaugheys' volatile relationship: Kay and her husband, James, were married three times, and divorced twice—all to each other. In 1992, James died while making love to Kay. "His heart just stopped, you know? We had a party for him, kind of a celebration of his life," Kay said.
Four years after her husband died, Kay and her son hit a low point in their relationship. The trouble began after McConaughey made 1996's A Time to Kill, and "got famous." According to McConaughey, Kay struggled with the transition to having a prominent son. Translation? She was speaking to the press.
After their weekly Sunday phone calls, Kay would feed information about his private life to news outlets. "Mother wasn’t answering the phone. A fan of my fame was answering the phone. I was trying to find my own balance with fame and stuff, and I would share things with her...some of the things I would share might show up in the six o’clock news three days later," he said.
At one point, Hard Copy—a tabloid TV show—came to his childhood home in Texas. McConaughey was alerted to the appearance by a friend, and was shocked when he turned on the TV to find his mom giving a tour.
"Mom’s leading the camera going, ‘And there’s the bed where I caught him with Michelle...no big deal because she didn’t last. Over here’s the bathroom, of course I walked in oh him in there and caught him doing you know what before…’ and I’m over here going, ‘Holy sh*t, Mom," he revealed. Reflecting on her actions today, Kay said that she was "enjoying his fame more than [Matthew] was."
[product contentProductId='64b22fa9-96c1-46i c5-8342-e0b0cd5a99fe' mediaId='bed9d70c-d367-4773-aa3d-4c1d31d2642b' align='right' size='small'][/product]
As the episode played, McConaughey called to confront her. "Of course, she’s watching it too and I hear the same damn show in the background," he said. Her defense didn't win him over: "She goes, ‘I didn’t think you’d find out.'"
After that breach in privacy, McConaughey felt that he needed to distance himself from his mom. Once his career was stabilized, they rekindled their relationship. "My boat was built well enough that I didn’t think she could sink it and then I just took the reins off and said, ‘Mom, hit that red carpet. Talk to all of them, tell them all the stories you want’ and she’s been great about it since," he said.
Luckily for us, McConaughey has reached the storytelling phase of his career. With his memoir, he invites us into his extraordinary life—and perhaps tells the story he didn't want his mom saying all those years ago.
For more ways to live your best life plus all things Oprah, sign up for our newsletter!
You Might Also Like
