Matthew McConaughey Confirms His Mom Called His Wife The Wrong Name As A Test
She would even call her names of his former girlfriends!
Celebrities’ mother-in-laws! They’re just like ours! Being married to one of the most popular and A-list actors doesn’t even let you escape the passive-aggressive nature that is a mother-in-law. Just ask Camila Alves, wife of Matthew McConaughey.
During a recent interview, McConaughey, 53, revealed that his mother, Mary Kathleen McCabe, put Alves, 41, through the ringer when they first started dating.
“My family is big on rites of passage and initiation, and you don’t get into the McConaughey family easily,” McConaughey said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada.
“We test you, and even in our own family with my brothers, and mother is one of us.”
He joked how he and his brothers would get on their “high horses” at times over the years, but still come together as a family despite poking fun at one another.
Remember in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days when McConaughey’s character takes Kate Hudson’s character to his hometown to meet his family? Everyone is super welcoming, kind, and open with her as they play a great game of B.S., right?
I think McConaughey’s real life family is the exact opposite of that.
“Oh, my family, we humbly wait, we make you cry, and then we pick you up and make your favorite drink, ‘You’re welcome back,’” he recalled. “So there are initiations, rites of passage that my family’s always enjoyed.”
Last month, Alves opened up about the beginning of her relationship with McConaughey, saying that she and McCabe weren’t exactly best friends. She revealed that McCabe would refer to her by the names of McConaughey’s exes.
“She did all these things when I first came in the picture, right? And she was really testing me. I mean, really testing me,” Alves shared on an episode of Southern Living’s Biscuits & Jam podcast at the time.
“She would call me by all of Matthew’s ex-girlfriends’ names, she would start speaking Spanish with me in a very broken way, kind of putting down a bit. I mean, all kinds of stuff.”
Despite the harsh (and racist...) beginning to their relationship, the two came together on a family vacation in Istanbul.
“I’m putting her to bed, and I realized, ‘Oh my god, she’s full of sh*t,” Alves said. “All she wanted was for me to fight back and then from that day on, that night on, we have the most amazing relationship, and I have so much respect for her. She has so much respect for me. I mean, it can get tricky sometimes, you know? But we always end with a good laugh and a joke.”
McConaughey explained how his wife was able to ultimately pass his mother’s test.
“Camila goes, ‘I’m not asking your permission anymore.’ And basically, my mom was like, ‘There we go. That’s right,’” McConaughey said.
As McConaughey and Alves continue to raise their kids, both are unsure if Alves will carry on McCabe’s interesting tactics.
“We’ll see. We’re just coming on the beginning of this stuff. You know what I mean? Talk to me in about three years, and I’ll have a better answer for,” he said. “Navigating is not going to be perfect, but I think we’ll work it out.”
