In a recent interview The Howard Stern Show, actor Matthew McConaughey revealed that not only was his newfound fame as a Hollywood star difficult for him as he started moving up the A-list, but it was also apparently hard for his mother to balance being a parent and a passionate fan. So much so that he ended up not speaking to her for a total of 8 years.
McConaughey had gone from a University of Texas student who happened to snag a role in Dazed and Confused to making a name for himself as a badass in A Time To Kill and playing the lead in a romantic comedy opposite a huge co-star like Kate Hudson.
"I was calling my mom at that time after I had gotten famous needing to talk to my mom," McConaughey explained to Stern on SiriusXM.
"Cause I was trying to figure out here 'hey I'm a little unbalanced, these things are going on, what do they mean?' And my mom was not the only one on the phone; most of the woman that was on the phone was a fan of my fame. And so we'd have conversations and all of a sudden, Whoop! What we just talked about shows up in the paper three days later."
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Even after he had a talk with his mother explaining that some conversations need to remain between mother and son, he turned on the TV after a phone call from a friend to see his mother giving a tour of his family home on a TV show, revealing personal information in the process. That was the final straw for the actor who found himself in a strenuous relationship with his mom for nearly a decade.
He would have quick phone calls with his mom on Sundays but would barely say anything because he was trying to set a boundary. But he has since forgiven her and she is incredibly involved in his current life in Austin, Texas with his wife Camila Alves and their three children. The Oscar winner finally got to a point in his career where he just didn't care anymore.
"Once I got my career sort of stable and fell to my feet, I let go of the reins and said 'go get it Mom! Whatever you want, there's the camera,' and she's been awesome."
We're glad everything worked out for the best with McConaughey and his mother Mary Kathlene McCabe. She's even been incredibly supportive of his new memoir Greenlights, which discusses his difficult childhood. If you follow McConaughey and his wife on social media (and you should), you'll get to see more inside looks at their lives together in Texas.
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