Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves have been together since 2006 and married since 2012. They have three children, Levi, 15, Vida, 13 and Livingston, 10. Over the years, we’ve heard a fair amount of stories about his mom, Mary “Kay” McCabe. For instance, early into Matthew’s fame, he stopped speaking to Kay for 8 years in order to set boundaries. Earlier this year, McConaughey shared that during his parents’ second divorce before their third time marrying (a wild bit of trivia in its own right), his mom got her Biblical knowledge on with Woody Harrelson’s dad. And, who can forget that time Kay told everyone about her husband-of-three-times’ climatic death (also written about in MM’s book)?
Well, now we’ve got a new Kay McCabe story to feed on. On a recent episode of the Southern Living’s Biscuits and Jam podcast, Camila revealed that when she first started dating starting Matthew, Ma Mac was not exactly the easiest of in-laws to get along with.
On Tuesday’s episode of Southern Living’s Biscuits & Jam podcast, Camila Alves-McConaughey revealed that she and the Interstellar actor’s mom, Mary Kathleen McCabe (who’s referred to as “Ma Mac” by the family), did not get along when the couple first started dating in 2006.
The Brazilian model recalled, “She did all these things when I first came in the picture, right? She was really testing me. I mean, really testing me.” Alves-McConaughey listed examples, sharing, “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 [me] down a bit. I mean, all kinds of stuff.”
Alves-McConaughey admirably didn’t let the hostility deter her from trying to forge a more friendly bond with her future mother-in-law. She continued, “I got a job to go to Istanbul to go do a fashion show there, and that job comes with the perks of you get another first-class ticket, you get another night’s hotel room, you get this, you get the driver. And I was like, ‘Ma Mac, you’re gonna come with me.’”
“The whole way there, the whole plane ride to Istanbul, she was telling me all these stories and putting all these things in my head,” the model shared. “When we landed, I was like, ‘Okay, all right. Let me buckle up. Let me get ready for this situation.’”
Alves-McConaughey recounted, “About day three, I was taking her to her room, and she got into this whole other thing that it’s not my place to share, and she starts crying, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ You know, ‘Ma Mac!’ and feeling so sorry. And as I put her to bed, I look at her and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh. She’s full of [expletive].’”
Deciding to give McCabe a taste of her own medicine, the model shared, “I just [flipped] it on her and brought my spicy Brazilian, Latin side, and I let her have it. So I went back at her, and we had it back and forth, back and forth.” And finally: “She just looked at me and she was like, ‘Okay. Now you’re in.’ All she wanted was for me to fight back,” Alves-McConaughey revealed.
The model’s determination paid off — she explained, “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.” Alves-McConaughey may have had to dig her feet in and grab the bull by the horns, but it sure did pay off.
Every family dynamic is different, and judging from Matthew’s autobiography, Greenlights, his family was truly one-of-a-kind, off-the-charts-in-a-gross-way unconventional. It can be difficult to enter or bring someone into a new dynamic, let alone one as bonkers as that one. I know she was never going to be your average mother-in-law, but Ma Mac’s approach feels somewhat abusive. When I first started dating Mr. Rosie, his entire family told me up front that teasing was their way of showing affection, and if they teased me, it meant I was in. I appreciated that head’s up. Do any of you have any good in-law stories? Maybe I’m being sensitive, but I don’t see how calling someone by their partner’s exes’ names, putting them down, or using broken dialect to speak to them is endearing at all. It’s pretty f—ked up. Ha, maybe telling this story is Camila’s lowkey way of getting revenge.
Photos credit: Thibault Monnier/LCD, Max DeAngelo, PacificCoastNews / Avalon, Backgrid
Last time I checked, the language spoken in Brazil was Portuguese-not Spanish…
Maybe that was part of the insult?
Ahhh you’re right! Yikes, that’s my bad, so sorry, all!
Speaking Spanish in a broken way to put her down??? She sounds kind of racist!
Yes, this sounds absolutely insane to me, but why is no one mentioning Matthew? Was the mom doing this to her in front of Matthew? If so, he is also a dick, not a proper mate, and she should have left him. I would NEVER let my parents speak down to my partner. Really gross.
So, this woman is a horrible bi&ch to call her son’s partner by old girlfriends names. There is no excuse for such behavior even if she didn’t like her. The rest is raging bigotry. As for Matthew, a friend of mine’s mother in law was pretty high up in the University of Texas-Austin’s Library system and he started “teaching” there right before she retired. At a cocktail party I asked about him and she was rather diplomatic but quite clear that he was a bit of a dick. Such is anyone who would allow his mother to behave in such a way. He knew what she was like & should have protected the woman he loved from his mother
You are spot on about Matthew. He should have gotten involved and maybe he did. We don’t know the full story. The post says M was estranged from her for long periods, and maybe Camila realized that Ma Mac’s behaviour is abusing Matthew just as much as it is abusing her. So instead of turning on M, she might have decided to help him set boundaries for them as a couple. There’s a reason why Camila wanted to get her alone, she let Ma go at it full steam until she ran out of abusive tactics and then set her straight. It’s just a theory, of course, based on my personal experience with my sister’s narc MIL. My sister’s marriage didn’t survive, and part of the issue was that she couldn’t stand up for herself while her husband avoided confrontation with his mother like the plague.
@Snappyfish: When you consider the fact that, as a famous actor, Matthew McConaughey’s former girlfriends tended to be famous actresses too, so it would add an extra element of cruelty to call Camila Alves by their names knowing that she could picture them. That’s some mother.
My first thought when I read this – ma Mac seems kinda racist. Hopefully she’s grown over the years with non-white DIL and grandchildren.
I thought Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish.
I think that’s part of the “insult”
Ma Mac is an abusive asshole and she only backed off because Camila layed down the law really hard. I bet she still falls back into abusive racist territory and Camila needs to constantly keep her in check. That attitude doesn’t just disappear like ‘haha it was just a test’. Spanish is not even Camila’s native tongue, Portuguese is, but what does that matter to a racist narcissist Karen. And the way she describes the crying tantrum does point to an attention seeking narc woman. Camila was invited to model in Istanbul, so Ma must do something to take her down a peg and upstage her. I didn’t know anything about her before, but now I know she is disgusting. Calling it a special family dynamic is a euphemism.
Well said!
Camilla is a better person than me- whether or not that ended my relationship with a man i loved, i would not engage with that woman.
Horrific.
Remember that show about Raymond- i didn’t watch it, but i saw that the MIL was passive aggressive and downright ugly to her daughter in law. And- i know it was for a sit com- but i don’t imagine i would let a woman like that into MY home. She can see her son elsewhere.
Don’t come here making my life worse. Get a therapist for christ’s sake.
My partner and i were older when we met. HIs parents were already dead.
Smart&Messy, yeah, folks that nasty never get better or change. I don’t envy Alves having to constantly keep her guard up–but she laid down the law like a boss. 😂
His mother is nasty and ignorant. Brazil official language is Portuguese but plenty also speak Spanish because of the similarity. I guess she assumed she didn’t speak English even though she had been living in the US since she was 15.
Camilla is very gracious and didn’t deserve that kind of hazing.
Hazing is correct.
I couldn’t imagine being that rude to either of my adult children’s SO! And I’m sorry but it’s not Kay’s business to “test” the woman her son chose because frankly if Kay was “tested” as a potential MIL she’d fail miserably!
@ Harla A Brazen Hussy, I couldn’t imagine being that awful to any of my children’s SO’s either!! One of whom, my daughters ex’s, wrote me a letter expressing how welcomed he felt and how much he treasured our relationship which we maintained for years until his wife nixed it.
Ma Mac wasn’t “testing” Camilla, she was abusive, manipulative and down right racist, using her position IF she was Matthews “gate keeper”.
I agree with you both, so much. I have a gigantic girl crush for Camila now, she is fucking fantastic.
I don’t understand how mother in laws don’t understand the importance of trying to get along with your child’s partner. Let alone someone that’s already been cut off for 8 years. That’s your access to your child and your grandchildren. If my MIL was that toxic I’d have nothing to do with her.
I agree Isa. I cannot imagine this. My mother in law was amazing. My husband is from white aristo background (not Uk) and I am from a similar background but from an African nation (don’t want to be too outing). From the moment I met her I was her baby. She cut off a friend of 40 years who negatively questioned our interracial relationship. She was my biggest cheerleader and the best mother. My mother was terrible mother and my MIL taught me everything about being a good parent in a respectful way while respecting boundaries. Miss her every day.
Helena, what a lovely tribute to your MIL. Clear that she loved her son as well you, wanted him to be happy and understood that your relationship was related to that happiness.
I wish my MIL cared about her two sons the way your MIL cared about her son. My husband was and is a great son, but my MIL (before she developed full on dementia) never seemed to appreciate that.
Some in-laws just can’t let go of their kids. They have centered their lives around their offspring (“done everything” for them). Their kids growing up means in their mind they are useless/no longer needed–and if the parents are control freaks, it means they are losing their petty little kingdom. Heck, if I were McC’s mom, I’d be off traveling the world and relaxing. That she can’t means she doesn’t have much of a life.
Helena, I’m so glad you had a great relationship with your MIL and I’m so sorry for your loss.
Mine is pretty great. No passive aggressive BS. She comes to visit and we go shopping or hang out. She’ll cook us food and clean the kitchen. I think I probably talk to her more than my husband.
Wow, she sounds like a real peach. Testing her via abuse and insults……..sheesh. She must have loved Matthew by that point bc I would have walked.
Right?
Why is it so hard for most people to just be kind, compassionate and nice?
It blows my mind how nasty humans are to each other.
What a piece of work this b!tch sounds like! It doesn’t quite come across as the heartwarming story Camila thought it might…😬
I don’t get why Matthew didn’t stand up here. Proof, once again, that Harry is a real treasure of a man.
Toxic, terrible woman. Acting racist and not letting the subject in on the “joke?” Total trash.
It wasn’t a “joke” either. Ma Mac used that excuse to cover up her racist, abusive and manipulative behaviour. I am actually surprised that Camilla didn’t bounce…..
Rosie, you asked for others happy MIL story’s.
I’m not married to my girlfriend (yet) but my future MIL is the freaking best. I adore her to bits and I know I am loved, appreciated and accepted
Whenever we visit A’s family in New Jersey, I am enveloped in love – usually in the form of food. My MIL is Iranian, my FIL is Greek (and I’m Ashkenazi Jew) so you must know how raucous our wedding is going to be
I know my mum adores A. Who, like my mum, is very girly. The 2 of them and my sisters routinely do spa days and English high tea together. In return, my MIL is trying her very best to teach me to cook. Oy gevalt
I think if you want to retain the love of your (adult) children once they are married, mutual respect and acceptance are paramount
I love this, Hannah. Congrats on your upcoming wedding! Wishing you and A a lifetime of happiness.
Ma Mac sounds like an abusive, racist piece of sh!t. It was not her place to “test” Camilla at any point. Imagine being invited to a trip anywhere and you still treat the other person like crap. I also have serious doubts that “fighting back” has changed the way Camilla’s MIL saw her. That woman still hoped MM would break up with CA and find himself a nice white woman.
My guess is she never thought that Camila would actually stick around this long. In NO WAY does this excuse her appalling behavior, but it might explain why she thought she’d get away with it.
In any case, I hope that Matthew intervened.
I could go on for pages about the hell my mil has put us through since 2007, tbh I could go on for even longer about what she put my husband and his stepdad and half siblings through when he was growing up. Instead I’ll just say my mail tried to bully me out of my marriage. When she came for my kids – insulting them, ignoring them, comparing them to their younger cousins, disrespecting boundaries I had set concerning them – that was it. We stopped speaking to her. Because apparently telling her to treat me with basic human decency was too much to ask. The ultimatum given was “be nice or you don’t get to see your grandkids.” Guess who doesn’t see her grandkids? And hasn’t since they were about 7-8? We are better off.
Fck “testing” grown ass women who are already married to your grown ass sons. That’s some squirrelly shit.
My husb and I were just saying the other day that we’re super-thankful that we love each other’s family and we both agreed that it wouldn’t work otherwise UNLESS we were both on the same page in terms of how we viewed our family member’s behavior. So while I’m sorry that you guys had to go through that with your MIL, at least you and your husband are a united front–her toxic behavior didn’t pull you guys apart. Just blows my mind that her petty, prideful bullshit is more important to her than seeing her grandkids smdh.
@ Sass, I am so sorry that she has done that to you. I couldn’t imagine being that hateful towards anyone unless they deserved it!! She is certainly worthy of going NC and yet all she is doing is punishing herself in the long game. I couldn’t imagine being away from my grandchildren for ANY length of time!!
@kitten and @bothsides thank you for your responses! The kids are both teenagers now and while I might be biased they are pretty awesome kids. Kind, funny, talented, people like being around them, etc. She told my husband in an email I wasn’t meant to read (husband showed it to me) that he should divorce me and marrying me was a mistake – two weeks after our wedding, while I was already pregnant with our first. She’s pulled various stunts over the years and after we cut her off she continued with her other kids until they cut her off, too. It’s her loss, but it definitely shows me that she views our kids as extensions of me which is why they’ve never been “worth it”. On another note I don’t take it personally knowing her history with my husband’s exes: spoiler alert, she hated all of those poor girls too. My husband was homeless for a year bc she told him if he didn’t dump the girl before me that he couldn’t live in her home!! It would never have mattered who he married, this was always the play for her. Good thing I love him hahaha
Calling her by ex-girlfriends’ names? Fake crying and tantrums? Idk, to me it sounds less like she was “testing” her and more like the MIL realized she went too far and would alienate her son again if she kept at it. So she slapped a “Congrats! You passed the test!” sticker on her toxic behavior and hoped it would work. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship is so tricky, though.
My in laws are from England and stayed with us for a month this summer. I’m recovering from the month of near constant cooking and servitude. I get along well with them now but it was hard early on. Lots of snide, off-hand comments about America and my being American (the UK could do no wrong). But if I had told her off like Camila had, it would not be good. British mothers do not appreciate being “put in their place” and it would be seen as a weakness and would only inspire worse behavior, believe it or not. The true test is how well you can ignore their comments and behavior. It’s challenging at times!
How could your relationship with your in-laws be any better when you have spent their entire trip at the mercy of being at their beck and call?? I don’t understand that…..
Has your husband stood up to his parents with their ridiculous behaviour and demands??
I have nothing but empathy for you but I think that your in-laws take advantage of you with this mindset of “better than” attitude towards Americans. And to add insult to injury, they spent the better part of the early relationship with your spouse making snide comments which you had to endure needlessly.
Stonecoldjaneaustin, Lady Catherine in your namesake’s novel ran all over everyone until Lizzy Bennett fought back. Lady C regarded not fighting back as a weakness, and got more contemptuous of people as a result. I’ve learned from hard experience that such people never will respect you or treat you right unless you stand up for yourself. And no husband should let his in-laws pull this crap.
That’s not a “test”, that’s racially charged abuse. Shame on whatshisface for putting his significant other in a position where she had to lay down the law.
On a more positive note, while I always had good relationships the mothers of my exes, my actual mother-in-law is the absolute nicest, kindest person on the planet. We go see movies together, we do shopping days together, we bake out of my nightmarish French pastry books together. My husband and I have been on multiple vacations with her and sometimes I’ll even take a trip with just her. I come from a very small family, and now it’s just my mother and I. I feel so incredibly lucky to have found a family member and a friend in my mother-in-law
I’m also lucky enough to have a wonderful mother-in-law–just an all around lovely person who treats me like her own child. My family & Mr. Bathory’s family have more than our fair share of eccentricities, but neither of us would tolerate abuse from family. Life is too short.
Truthfully, I’d sort of love to have been there to see “Ma Mac’s” face when Camila let her have it.
You two are VERY fortunate!! My MIL commented to my husband that I was “too nice, there must be something wrong with her” at our first meeting!! Now my FIL was a different story as we always got along swimmingly, but my MIL and SIL have been a different story since day 1. Even when my MIL was advancing in age, I set up a bi-weekly floral arrangement delivery, which finally changed my MIL’s to become a little nicer towards me. But she never shared her feelings directly AT me as her feelings were shared to my husband. We had been married 24 years, 27 total, by that time.
Yet, none of them never knew that it was at MY insistence that her son finally end the NC with them. I implored my husband to re-establish his relationship with his parents, and sister, as he would regret it IF they never spoke again.
I know this isn’t as deep as what Camilla went through but I was with my ex fiancé for nearly 10 years. She had pictures of my ex’s siblings and their partners all around the house and on fridge magnets and not a single picture of my ex and I after all of those years and we had the longest running relationship. I’m glad we broke up and my current mother in law is the loveliest woman.
@Tila, I’m sorry you had to deal with such a passive-aggressive b!tch. I have no idea why some people seem to get off on being mean like that for no reason, but I’m glad you’re done with her.
Thank you so much 💜 I remember bringing this up to my partner once or twice and he would just swerve it so I ended up dropping it. I was too embarrassed to tell my friends and family. Glad I’m away from that now.
Sigh…Mother in laws…I feel for Camila, and I’m glad that they’ve found middle ground. My MIL is not bad, she’s just a prime example of why you still need to have things for yourself when raising your kids. She invested so much of herself into her kids, but never had any hobbies or real interests of her own, that after her sons flew the coop, she didn’t know what to do with herself. She spent the 2 years of my dating her son, the year and a half engagement, and probably the first 10 years of our marriage trying to nose her way in and practically sit in between us. The pandemic was such a blessing in disguise in this capacity because it finally gave her the time to realize she could survive not being all up in our business 24/7, and now she’s backed off a lot. I always hoped she and I would have a close relationship, but I constantly have to keep her at arm’s length because she’s always dying to take that mile when I’m only offering an inch. MIL’s can be tough.
@L8 you make a really good observation – moms often throw themselves into mothering at the common risk of losing their personhood. This is a reasonable assumption that it results in overbearing MILs. I love my kids and often wonder how I’ll take it when they’re gone for good – the day is close for me sadly – but I reassure myself with the fact that I’ve never cried at any of their big milestones or events like first day of school, 8th grade continuation, sleepaway camp etc. I’ve traveled solo since becoming a mom, I have made a point of making friends with people who don’t have kids because it’s simply not my entire identity. There are women I know who let it become their whole world and I can see why it’s easy to let that happen as our society is structured to expect and support that, but the fact that I’m a feral critter by nature and that my MIL was so horrendous to me plus watching how my own family welcomed in laws even after divorce through generations and since fully coparented etc., I have no illusions about the fact that my kids will one day bring home someone they love deeply and if they’re happy, the rest is none of my business. I’m not gonna try to scare some poor young woman off because how dare she seduce my perfect innocent baby. Yuck, why would I? In short: MILs need hobbies lol
Yet another reason women have to continually fight the right-wing/conservatives. The “famblee values” they blare on about resulted in a lot of women putting everything they had–especially their self-esteem–into being mothers . . .with toxic results.
Wow. What an absolute cow.
I’m interested to know why Camilla is telling this story – does she not realize how bad it is?
@Slush, yeah, I said this upthread to @Becks. It doesn’t come across as a heartwarming little story…idk what she was thinking telling it now.
I have no particular interest in Ma Mac, but this happened 20 years ago, yes? So I’m pretty sure Camila has had plenty of time to judge whether she is in fact a racist piece of shit or just a mean-spirited weirdo who was really tired of dealing with all of the soon-to-be exes of her then 40-year-old son. He went through a lot of women in his day (a pre-Leo if you will). Anyway, why not trust Camila’s judgment on this since she actually knows the woman?
That’s not “testing”. That’s being a bitch.
Sounds like my mother who’s an absolutely foul narcissist. I’ve seen her pull these tricks with all of my sisters-in-law. Well, actually she does this to every woman she comes across. Not men though. Men are special.
@Pip, I think I just sprained my eyeballs – “men are special”, indeed. 😛
I feel in these situations, it should be up to the son to put his mum in her place and defend the girlfriend. It should not be up to the girlfriend to fight back. The son will have more bargaining power “if you still want to have a son, you better treat my girlfriend with respect”.
Poor Camilla….what an a-hole she had to deal with for all these years. Let me just say that my mother-in-law is just a lovely person. She has taught me how to behave when and if I am ever in that role, of course, I’ve already had practice over the years with the various boyfriends that have been brought home that have evolved into serious relationships. I have told her over and over how much I appreciated her and my late father-in-law’s kindness over the years. Now my mother and step-father on the other hand…ugh…my poor saint of a husband!
To anyone experiencing that kind of behavior from family members, know that it is not okay and you don’t have to accept it.
“Emotional abuse, which can start in childhood, is widely recognised as the most prevalent form of Violence Against Women and Girls. However, although victims of emotional abuse usually suffer terribly, perpetrators often evade accountability. Emotional abuse is underestimated in part because it is normalized by victims who are mostly women and girls. The normalization of VAWG is contributing to the propagation and perpetuation of biased perceptions of sexism. The intergenerational transmission of parenting styles – which is an important contributory factor for child development – often includes gender-stereotyping norms, or patriarchy.“
My mil sends care packages to us: vitamins for my.husband (because my cooking as a working spouse isn’t sufficiently nutritious) and self help books for me with notes in the margins. I’ve even gotten one about healthy boundaries…
Holy shizzle, the nerve! I’d be marking those ‘return to sender’!
OMFG…the audacity!!
Okay at Bra one boob at a time, you’ve made me feel a wee bit ashamed about complaining in my real life about my MIL giving me an obviously used cookbook (which is okay), except she presented it as new. The side margin notes on multiple pages gave it away
That is so bad. Stamp return to sender-you need self help more than I do. Thank you very f#cking much for your concern.
MerlinsDad’s mother hated, and I mean HATED me from the get go. I wasn’t Italian, I wasn’t Catholic, I didn’t await on him hand and foot (neither did she. She was an abusive piece of shit to my husband when he was little), she treated our 3 girls as if they were “other than” and most of all she hated me because I called her out to her face and didn’t hold back. I was fortunate that Himself backed me all the way and cut off contact till shortly before she died. They managed to work through things and he was in a much better place with her., which made me happy for him, but she never ever had any contact with our girls again.
MY mother wasn’t much better to HIM and I wouldn’t put up with that shit from her either. We were a package deal and she could either accept that and slow her roll OR we were ghost. (my relationship with her has always been iffy at times).
They worked it out and have an amazing relationship these days and I think she loves him more than she does me 😆.
All those lessons I learned from what NOT to do has helped me. My son in law and even my ex son in law are loved and respected and I get that in return. I never stepped/step in the middle of their issues with my daughters and I think that’s helped. My youngest daughter’s boyfriend is slowly coming around, he’s a good dude
I never have been a fan of MM but his mother sounds like an absolute nightmare.
Where is Matthew in all of this? I really hope he checked his awful, abusive mother for her toxic, RACIST behaviors directed at his spouse!
So this woman got a all expense paid trip to Istanbul and still acted and treated her DIL like that.
She put up with all of that for Matthew.
Him?
Couldn’t be me.
What Camilla and Matt have is a long term marriage and a beautiful family that they fought for. Matt’s mom is a real tool but it looks like between the not speaking to her for almost a decade and then Camilla fighting back, mama learned her place. I’m glad Camilla didn’t leave, sometimes in love, the thing to do is not to leave bc things are flawed, but to stay and fight to make it better, to still get up w each other the next morning.thaysthe hard part of marriage, and kudos to them for keeping mom out when she needed to be kicked out!
Are people missing the part where he didn’t speak to his mother for eight years? I know the current advice is to immediately go no contact, but that wasn’t his choice. Sounds like he knows that he comes from a deeply dysfunctional family, but wants to keep the connection
Oooooh, I had a doozy of an now ex MiL. She came to see us and stay for a week shortly after our child was born. On the day that she flew back she panicked about a layover and after checking in to her scheduled flight got on a different one (bought a ticket) to avoid said layover. She called me every 2 minutes from the airport, berating me that it was ll my fault that her luggage was lost, etc etc and hanging up on me when I tried to help so I just stopped taking her calls. Awful woman
My in-laws are usually pretty awesome, we’ve had to set boundaries especially around our kids and the other grandkids. There’s some mental health, manipulation and lazy parenting on that side. We almost stopped having a relationship with them 2 Christmases ago when we laid out some boundaries. They still push them, but for the most part are loving and welcoming. My MIL makes me *green* cookies so that’s a nice perk 😉
My MIL story — many years ago my ex-fiancé’s mother had us over for a big family/friends gathering. *Bunny* loved to be shocking, she thought she was just being funny but it really was OTT. So she turned to me in front of the entire gathering and said “So, is my son good in bed?” Without blinking an eye I said “He thinks he is” and the whole place erupted in gales of laughter. From that point on she loved me.
“Testing” boyfriends/girlfriends comes down to one thing: Can they handle negativity/abuse slung around from the in-laws? Those people say the most obnoxious stuff and when you get offended they try to pass it off as a “joke”.
I cannot imagine dealing with that kind of toxic behavior. If a man I’m dating expected me to put up with that or pass some ridiculous “test” then we’re done and he can go find some doormat to date.
Yep this exactly. I’m not here to play your little mind games, thanks.
Mil: haha you’re so fun to make fun of
Me: no I’m not. Fucking stop it.
Mil: you are EXACTLY like me.
Me: no I’m not. Fucking stop it.
🤣
Why would someone presume I have time to entertain mind games? Excuse me, but ‘I was testing you’ is not an excuse for an absolute rude behaviour and the waste of my time. I used to think these pretty girls who become models and marry hunks were extremely self-confident and assertive. Average me wouldn’t spend a split second trying to win this bish over. Particularly if Mathew himself didn’t hesitate to cut her off his life for eight yrs. I’m worried about Camilla if she thinks this anecdote about how someone enjoying a luxury experience thanks to her work, still felt entitled to upset her and try to manipulate her emotions. That’s not cute or funny, and I wouldn’t allow that piece of sh*t in the same room than my kids. I want to think Camilla wants to expose her as the c*nt she is while pretending to gush over their relationship.
BlueNailsBetty–yep, that is a major red flag right up there with your SO treating service staff like crap–or trying to control how you live. If they want you to jump through hoops/can’t stand up for you, they ain’t grown enough to be worth your time.
I’m dying here. MIL experiences are such a great subject. My husband’s ex cheated on him. They divorced (0bv). My future MIL made a point of saying I looked like his ex. Uhmm..sure. I’m auburned hair with green/hazel eyes and the ex is dark brown haired with brown eyes. The only similarities – we’re both female.
Then she learned what my Dad did throughout his career/life and I was good. Then problems with the NPD SIL happened and I was bad again. One of my husband’s aunts (MIL’s sister, who I wished to be my MIL), would always tell me she knows what the two of you have together, she’s having problems accepting that her daughter is not a good human being.
During that time(years), at a holiday get together, I’m helping setting the table (brought 2 vegetable dishes, 6 lbs of mashed potatoes and good wine), my MIL said to me how my husband always brought home strays. I replied, “That’s great. My parents say the same thing about me.”. *crickets*
Things have changed for the better-the NPD SIL is not in the picture with anyone. Still, I emotionally distance myself. Self-protection.
Matthew’s mom is some kind of piece of work. There are reasons behind him estranging himself from her. I’m kind of loving this bit of shade sharing from CA.
Adding, my now husband did put me through a ‘test’ kind of sort of. His test (and I’ll admit I had a couple of my own-I was a single mother), was how long I could patiently endure his mom’s chronic talking. 45 minutes of listening with the occasional uh,huh and okay. He said, I was who he thought I was, but had a limit.
This sounds…yikes.
Maybe that’s why I’m single haha.
I’m sorry his mother is an asshole and Matthew is an even bigger asshole for not saying shit to his mother. Sorry this is not it. She was being abusive and “teasing” as form of showing affection is bullshit it’s bullying.
seems like she got the case of Ma Karen
I had never heard the stories about Matthew McConaughey’s trainwreck of an upbringing in the link you posted above. Yeesh. All things considered dude turned out amazingly well.
My first time reading about his childhood too. And considering his mother and father used to make up after fighting by HAVING SEX ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF THE KIDS … well, it’s no wonder the woman had no qualms about insulting and being a total bish to Camila.
That was incredibly big of Alva to take Matthew’s mother on a modeling trip with her. I could never do it. I wouldn’t want to be alone with that woman. Glad Alva finally fought back and is “accepted,” if she actually is.
I went to the link and it says Ma and husband had sex on the kitchen floor in front of the kids after violent arguments. This is beyond appalling!!! The mystery is how he has maintained a relationship with her and moreover how he became such a seemingly decent guy.
@DaisyMay, you beat me to it! And the part about her insisting her dead hubby’s body be taken away naked so people can see his “gift”. Cray cray and dysfunctional family beyond belief! Matthew M’s a survivor!
Return to Sender. Refused Delivery. That would be my response.
Daisy May, Yuck and Oh My God!
My guess is that Ma Mac likely had a chaotic and traumatic childhood. Not that that as an excuse, for that kind of behavior..
Clearly Alvez loved Matthew enough to want a relationship with his mom. It’s kind of amazing she went to the lengths she did to establish it. And I don’t know why we are assuming he didn’t intervene or stand up to his mom along the way. . I read it as Alvez deciding what she wanted and making it happen. She’s tough as nails and took control. Doesn’t sound like she wanted to be rescued from it – she had freedom of choice and exercised it.
My partner’s mother is like this racist vile excuse pretending to be a human being. I told mine off after she screamed at me non stop on moving day just because she was having a meltdown. During a 20 min car ride while her husband and son escaped with the moving truck she had the gall to lecture me about my place and her place, implying I was “dirty”, my private parts were too “unclean” for my bed because I didn’t have a mattress cover and dust ruffle on the disassembled bed,and that I had “ruined” her son’s only moving day ever and his entire life. My partner and her husband totally closed ranks and tolerated her. I told her to f off and gtfo. I understand white men backing entitled white women up because that’s a feature not a defect of their f-ed up hierarchy but I never let her off the hook and every incident she has shown her clown side car racist s**t show of a self I have called her out and pissed her off by my very existence. I understand the game of passive dominance and revenge Camila is playing but I sure as hell don’t have the time, privilege or luxury to allow women like this to subjugate me nor will I ever put up with their sh*t.
My MIL would be the same age as Matthew’s mom and was born and raised in Texas- but that’s where the similarities end. My MIL went out of her way to welcome me and never treated me in any way that could be seen as cruel! I’m always shocked at the horror stories people have! I would have run far from Matthew, lol.
My sister’s first Christmas with her husband’s family, her MIL had asked her what she wanted. She made a list of inexpensive items to pick from, hair accessories, an electric razor, etc. Her MIL bought ALL the items on the list. So Christmas morning she is opening gift after gift after gift when the other family members had long finished opening theirs. So embarrassing. Communication is everything.
Ma Mac sounds a lot like my ex-mother in law. I don’t know how Mathew behaved but I know my ex did NOT help matters at all, he was always afraid of her. She damaged him emotionally his entire life and lied to him about everything. When he & I got together she tried very hard to de-rail it and said they were getting along just fine until I came into the picture. We split up, for various reasons but his mother was part of it. Now where is he, living with his mother. Seriously.