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Matthew McConaughey is still talking about his mom’s behavior towards his wife Camila Alves when they first started dating. This whole press cycle began when Camila did a podcast interview and shared how Kay McCabe aka Ma Mac, “tested” her when she first started dating Matthew. For example, McCabe would call Camila by Matthew’s ex-girlfriends names and speak to her in broken Spanish, even though her native language is Portuguese. A lot of people did not find this treatment funny and rightfully called it out as abusive. MM tried to do damage control by laughing Ma Mac’s behavior off as a rite of passage in the McConaughey family. Yeah, no one was buying that one either. Now, Matthew is once again defending Kay, framing it as “looking out” for him.
“My family — and part of Camila and I as well — we cherish the value of a sense of humor and comedy,” the Oscar winner said on the “Whine Down with Jana Kramer” podcast Monday while admitting that his mother Mary McCabe’s treatment of Alves when they met had ruffled some feathers.
“Some people were like, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ but … Camila wasn’t wounded about it,” he insisted. “What tickles us may bruise others.”
McConaughey, 53, went on to praise his mom for “looking out for” him when he began his relationship with the now-41-year-old model.
“She was looking out for me,” he said. “She tested my feelings and tested the woman I had the feelings for. Big picture, that’s pretty cool actually.”
The “Interstellar” star also gave Alves a shout-out for going “right through” the hazing and earning McCabe’s respect.
Meh. I have never heard the phrase, “What tickles us may bruise others.” Is that a Texas thing? Maybe Matthew’s next book should be a compilation of random sayings, lol. But in all seriousness, MM had a messed up childhood. He also had a rocky relationship with Kay when he first became famous and stopped talking to her for eight years to set some boundaries. He likely still craves affection from his mother and probably has a very skewed way of looking for it. I believe him when he says that he thinks it was “cool” that his mom was looking out for him. Bless his heart. I just wish he’d understand that good intentions do not justify bad actions. Ma Mac’s actions towards his wife were still abusive.
When this story first broke, a lot of you shared some really great personal stories about getting along with your in-laws. At the end of the day, it’s up to Camila to decide what she wants to put up with, but Matthew needs to stop normalizing and justifying his mother’s behavior. Every time he does another interview explaining it away, it just brings more attention to it. Matthew, we’re in Hollywood Divorce Szn. Stop talking about your mom and everyone will forget about it soon enough.
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Lame defense. She did it because she is jealous, mean and shallow. She wasn’t looking out for anyone but herself. She sounds like an abhorrent woman.
Right? Looking out for him means just saying, “I’m happy that you’ve found someone special!” The end.
Read the room, man, and shut up about it. How desperate was Camila to land a movie star that she put up with it? I would have been out the door long before it got to marriage and I would have made it crystal clear that Ma’s racist attitude was a big part of the reason. The fact that he is OK with any of that crap is not a good look for him either.
They really just need to stop talking about this hateful trashbag. It’s worse every time her racist bullying gets “explained”. Matthew is a big enough star that he can decide not to answer or allow questions about his mother.
It sounds like Matthew loves to talk to the media, just like his mom because he just can’t stop trying to explain away her behavior. It’s not enough that he makes excuses for her, but he actually wants everyone to approve of what she did. It won’t happen so he should just give it up and move on.
But his cognitive dissonance won’t let him see her behavior and treatment of his wife for what it was. Because if he does he’s going to have to examine his entire relationship with his mother and he can’t do that.
So instead he needs everyone to agree with him that it’s ok and normal and funny and her being a good mom.
So he doesn’t need to do any looking inside and processing what he’s being told.
He keeps bringing it up because it deeply effected him that people called it out as toxic. He’s not defending his mom. He’s defending his long held ideas of who his mom is to him and by extension his wife and he can’t face or accept that she might be awful and toxic. Because then he might need to do slembtkng about it.
All right all right all right.
Maybe that’s part of the vetting process.
Another excuse for his mom’s sh*tty and racist behavior? How many more excuses will he give bc this one isn’t any better than the last one. He and his mother should just take this L, admit they were wrong and apologize bc at this point, he’s now become complicit with his bs gaslighting.
This just in….Douchebag says douchy things to cover up his awful mother…MM should stop talking.
Camilla is beautiful and confident. I doubt his mother’s behavior caused her to lose any sleep. More of an irritant than a problem. She didn’t take it personally so good for her. She got her man.
But is “getting” him worth it? It’s not just that McC keeps defending his mom’s awful behavior. How does she act towards his kids with Camilla? How is it he doesn’t see how damaging this racist abuse can be towards them? I thought he was a decent (if spacey) guy, but he comes off like a mother-ridden simp here who’d rather keep the peace than set boundaries–or cut her off completely.
I agree. I think Camilla thought of her as a necessary mosquito but harmless, even funny. Bless all their hearts.
Matthew, you aren’t helping yourself nor your mom. At the end of the day, your mom is a racist B with attachment issues, and you’re a mama’s boy.
100% He does look like a Mama’s Boy. I would call his mother a Brass-Bound Bitch. Camilla is a saint to put up with her.
I’m starting to wonder why she puts up with either of them Lordy
That’s not hazing, that’s bullying. This old hag was nothing but a jealous and bitter woman. If i were Camila, I would wait until hubby wasn’t around and whisper in that MIL-from-hell’s ear ‘just remember that you are going to die soon’ and just cackle.
Unfortunately she may not die anytime soon.The mean ones seem to live forever
THIS is so true!!
To me hazing is still bullying. It’s such an outdated ridiculous notion to put someone through pain for some pointed outcome. I agree it’s bullying behavior but they seem like a family where they throw cake at each other on birthdays and wedding speeches list every relationship the groom was ever in that was better than the bride.
Still looking for his mama’s love.
He really needs to shut up about this. It makes him and his mother look terrible. I’m tired of hearing him try to justify this kind of toxic bullying behavior. It does a disservice to the book he’s peddling. Why should any take advice from a man who thinks that kind of behavior is okay? Not me. And if I had kids I certainly wouldn’t want them learning anything from him.
I lost a lot of respect for him after reading this ngl. Can’t stand a man who won’t stand up to mommy and let’s her disrespect the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Grow a spine.
He’s got a terrible mom, but is keeping her in his life. That’s a reasonable choice to make, but demanding others accept her behavior isn’t a good look.
Ma Mac is trash and Son Mac is trash for enabling and celebrating her vile behaviour.
You can even see it in his mother’s face expressions – this is someone who enjoys hurting others.
ITA.
The set of Big Momma’s jaw is not that of an easy going, loving person.
If I could go back and save myself decades of insecurity, stress and fear by telling my now ex-MIL to kiss my ass (before I kicked her son to the curb) I would in a heartbeat. Maybe Camila really is made of sterner stuff but she shouldn’t have to be. There’s NO excuse for what she had to put up with and Matthew needs to have ALL the seats.
I hate wondering this, but would his mom have reacted the same way if Matthew had brought home a blue eyed Betty? for some reason I get the impression that a lil’ southern belle wouldn’t have gotten the same treatment that WOC Camila received. Then, when she realized she couldn’t scare her off, she suddenly decided to rebrand her abuse as “looking out for her sons best interests.” Don’t think we don’t see you too, Matthew. 😠
A blue-eyed blonde might have gotten slightly better treatment than Camila, but toxic people like MM treat everyone like dirt, eventually. Even the ones they view as golden. I’m sure Camila’s heritage was a trigger for MM’s toxicity. But she treated her own son like sh** for years and has a reputation. Anyone Matthew married would have gotten toxic behavior.
Don’t “hate wondering” – she’s obviously a racist troll!
I treat my kids chosen ones with kindness and respect, even when I don’t like them. Plus, I raised my son to not let anyone treat a woman with disrespect so if I’d done that, he’d be the first one to say something.
Defending and making light of his mom’s bullying of their mother is not a great example for their kids
This happened 20 years ago, folks- if you follow Camila on IG, she always has Kay on there and she and Kay seem to have a very sweet relationship now, and they tease each other. She was a jerk then but it seems like Camila stood up to her and Kay respected that and it all turned out okay. MM had already shown that he was willing to go no contact with her if she couldn’t accept boundaries and maybe that helped shift their family dynamic in a healthier direction. They should definitely stop talking about it though because it’s not doing anyone any favors and invites that internet to have opinions on their familial relationships.
Matthew has told the story that his father didn’t respect his brother until they had a full fist fight over his brother not doing crimes for his dad. His dad tried to invite a fight with Matthew too.
I didn’t read the book, but Matthew’s stories about his family on Armchair Expert when he was promoting it were F*CKED UP. I hope Camilla is providing love, safety, and stability for those children because the entire McConaughey family sounds very terrible people.
Trying to normalize abuse is never a good look. I hope he does a better job defending his kids from toxic bullies.
Sounds like Ma Mac didn’t like what Camila said to the press and might be screeching behind the scenes for MM to fix it. This situation is out of control. It’s gonna get ugly 😬
You may be right about the mother not liking what Camilla said because MM is contorting himself in all different ways to excuse his mom. I mean he says, “My family… we cherish the value of a sense of humor and comedy.” Huh?! What the hell does that even mean? And he claims that “Camilla wasn’t wounded” by what his mother did to her, but Camilla obviously felt some kind of way about it, because she never forgot and she recounted the story decades later on social media, so maybe instead of trying to convince us of how Camilla felt, he should be talking to Camilla about how she really felt.
Oh gross. Glad that it all worked out for them but he’s a weak man who used his mother to help keep his girlfriend in line.
Not exactly at work but at my first big corporate job. I went through a period of hazing by some co-workers. My boss called me on the carpet and I just unloaded on him. He understood and was very understanding and it stopped right there. Then I went around to every person that lied about me and had it out with them. When one person complimented my work. I said thank you, maybe now you won’t complain about me to our boss. He looked like he wanted to shrivel up and die. It seems this group would do this to everyone who was new to see if they had the ‘stones’ to be part of the group. They completely validated their bullying as just wanting people to be their best.
I can see McBully reconciling it as she was helping Camilla be a better, stronger wife for Matty. Glad Camilla finally shut it down. But it never should have happened in the first place. And Matty grew up with that behavior. Not excusing it but can see how he can’t see his Mother for who she really is.
The best thing to do to a bully is stand your ground and throw it right back in their faces. Bullies hate being challenged and exposed. Glad Camilla did both.
I guess he’s trying to do some damage control but every time he opens his mouth it gets worse.
I my child encountered this kind of behavior from their spouses family I would tell them to cut ties. When you marry someone you also marry their family, and nothing is worth a lifetime of abuse.
“My mom knows I’m an insufferable jackass, so she was just making sure my potential partner could tolerate being around insufferable jackasses” is not the flex he thinks it is.
Should women that age be wearing “keyhole” dresses that bare wrinkled cleavage and expose knees …? Yikes.
Yup, I noticed that as well and it’s almost like she’s trying to compete with her son’s wife given the fact that her dress is shiny, form-fitting, it has a shorter hemline than the wife’s, and she placed herself squarely in the center of the photograph of the two couples. That is some strong umbilical cord they’ve got. Good luck, Camilla.
That’s some toxic nonsense. Shame on the mother for acting that way, and him for telling this like it’s a fun little story. Maybe they’re all good now, but I bet Camille remembers how that felt.
Your mom is a piece of shit, bud. Treasure your wife, you married up.
Camila only talked about this once…other people pointed out that MIL behavior was not ok..and he keeps defending Mom (NOT his wife) in public.
So what’s going on in private with this family? Is his toxic Mom screaming about how bad Camila made her look and demanding that her son ‘fix’ this? He’s obviously not supporting his wife.
Matthew sounds crazy as hell. He IS a good actor, but I’d hate to be his wife when he sides with his mother bullying her. That is actually insane. Camilla should kick his ass for saying it. And kick him out of the bedroom, too. And kick out his mother, who is actually living with them (this sounds so yucky I’m not sure if I actually read that here, but think I did).
Mom sounds like a cluster b woman who has an unhealthy relationship with her son and is threatened by him having another woman in his life.
Matthew sounds like an enabling son making excuses for his cluster b mother.
The man is allegedly a thespian, but doesn’t know his objective from his subjective case.