Matthew McConaughey: I couldn't talk to my mother for eight years

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Watch: Matthew McConaughey and mother Kay open up on eight year estrangement

Matthew McConaughey has revealed he did not talk to his mother for eight years after she started sharing details of his private life with the media.

The Oscar-winning actor and his 88-year-old mother Kay have since rebuilt their relationship - but McConaughey has admitted that when he first became famous it drove a wedge between them.

The 51-year-old actor told Facebook Watch's Red Table Talk: "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,. 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 and, you know, to whatever amount of innocence it was – we can not completely laugh at it – but some of the things I would share might show up in the six o’clock news three days later.”

From left, Mary Kathlene McCabe, Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Matthew McConaughey with his mother Kay and wife Camila Alves at the Oscars in 2014. (AP)

He went on: “So there were years there that I would not share things with her because I was finding my own balance, building my own ship and 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.’

Read more: Matthew McConaughey responds to Kate Hudson's jab at their kissing scenes

“I was not able to talk to her as my mom for about eight years and then I got my career stabilised enough.”

FILE - Actor Matthew McConaughey attends A+E Network's "HISTORYTalks: Leadership and Legacy" on Feb. 29, 2020, in New York. The Oscar winner, known for such films as "Dallas Buyers Club" and "Magic Mike," didn't want to write an ordinary celebrity book. "This is not a traditional memoir, or an advice book, but rather a playbook based on adventures in my life," McConaughey said in a statement about "Greenlights," which comes out Oct. 20. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Matthew McConaughey was estranged from his mother Kay for eight year. (AP)

McConaughey appeared on the show - hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith and Willow Smith - alongside his mother, who admitted she had been, "enjoying his fame more than he was, I guess."

Read more: Matthew McConaughey faces backlash after sharing the intimate nature of dad's death

The How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days star revealed that as he grew more comfortable with life in the spotlight, he was able to let his mother back in.

He said: "My boat was built well enough where I didn’t feel like she could sink it. We healed that up in 2004."

The Dallas Buyers Club star married wife Camila Alves in 2012 and they have three children: Levi, 12, Vida, 10, and Livingston, eight.

During the coronavirus pandemic Kay has moved in with the family.

McConaughey told ITV’s Lorraine: “My mother is around her grandkids every single day. That’s a great thing, that wouldn’t have happened unless she was forced to live with us.”

Watch: Matthew McConaughey playing bingo online