Matthew McConaughey Reveals Why He Took Eight-Year ‘Hiatus’ From His Mom

Matthew McConaughey got candid about his relationship with his mom, Kay, revealing that he once took “a hiatus” from her for leaking family secrets while coming to terms with his fame.

The actor explained that it took eight years for their relationship to improve, noting that he worked on himself to ensure she “couldn’t sink the boat” with her revelations.

Mathew McConaughey also revealed that he and his wife, Camila Alves, have a different parenting style from the way he was raised, as they’re more open to “listening longer” and “trying to understand.”

Matthew has opened up about a time in his life when the relationship with his mom wasn’t standing firm.

Appearing in an interview with People Magazine, the 55-year-old actor and his 93-year-old mother, Kay, weighed in on how their relationship has evolved over the years, with Matthew noting that it wasn’t always smooth, as she had leaked details of his private life to the press.

“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,” he told the news outlet.

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.

Elsewhere in their chat with the news outlet, the “Interstellar” actor explained that things only got better between them after eight years, as he became more comfortable with not caring about what his mom had said.

“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 shared. “It’s much more fun now.”

In a previous interview on the “Red Table Talk,” the actor revealed that at the time, he was “trying to find my own balance with fame,” but his effort would usually be frustrated as whatever he told Kay “might show up in the six o’clock news three days later.”

In the “Red Table Talk” interview, Matthew remembered how stunned he was to see his mom opening the doors to his childhood home to the press and allowing them access to his bedroom and private family stories.

The actor recalled how she told him she didn’t think he’d find out, but that was it. He stopped sharing things about himself with her.

“I was not able to talk to her as my mom for about eight years,” Matthew said, per People Magazine.

“There were years I would not share things with her because I was also finding my own balance,” he continued. “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.'”

Alongside Matthew, Kay shares his older brothers Michael “Rooster” McConaughey and Pat McConaughey, with their late father James McConaughey, who died in 1992 at the age of 63.

In their chat with People, Kay, who’s usually referred to as MaMac by her six grandchildren, weighed in on her seemingly strict parenting style.

“You don’t want me to have to tell you twice,” she said. “Bingo. That’s it,” Matthew agreed.

“I was strict but loving,” the McConaughey matriarch noted.

Growing up was seemingly challenging for Matthew as he had to witness his parents’ marital struggles.

Kay and James’ first marriage ended in a divorce, but they later remarried only to divorce again. They later reconciled and got married for the third time until James’ death.

The mother and son, alongside his 17-year-old son Levi, appear together in the Apple TV+ movie “The Lost Bus,” where they play characters representing their real-life familial roles.

Matthew explained that he and his wife, Camilla Alves, adopt a more laid-back approach to parenting their three children.

“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.'”