Woody Harrelson responds to Matthew McConaughey’s claim that they could be half-brothers

Harrelson was stunned to learn that McConaughey’s mother ‘knew... his father’ decades ago

Woody Harrelson has addressed his stance on Matthew McConaughey’s recent revelation that they could be half-brothers.

Last week, McConaughey, a longtime friend of the fellow actor, told an anecdote about how his mother, Mary McCabe, revealed that she’d been familiar with Harrelson’s father in the past.

McConaughey said his mother’s remark moved him to investigate his family history, and whether she might have had a fling with Harrelson’s father in which McConaughey was conceived.

During his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Champions actor responded to McConaughey’s statement.

“Well, I'll just say there is some veracity to that thought,” Harrelson, 61, noted on the Tuesday night episode (18 April).

“We were in Greece, we were watching the US team win the World Cup. I mentioned something about regrets, and I said, 'Ah, it's odd that my father had no regrets.’

“I've known Mom Mc [Mary McCabe] a long time, and she goes: 'I knew... your father'.”

The emphasis on the word “knew” and the pause afterwards gave both actors food for thought about the nature of McCabe’s relationship with Harrelson’s father.

“It was the ellipsis I found a little troubling, or interesting,” Harrelson noted.

Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey (Getty)

“How would you describe that pause?” Colbert asked, to which Harrelson replied: “Filled with innuendo.”

“A pregnant pause, perhaps?” Colbert quipped, much to Harrelson's amusement.

The actor went on to note that McCabe was “on sabbatical” from her relationship with Matthew’s father, Jim McConaughey, nine months before the Dallas Buyers Club star was born.

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However, they’re hesitant to take a DNA test due to the possible repercussions it’ll have for McConaughey.

“The thing is, we want to go and test, but for him, it's a much more big deal,” Harrelson explained. “He feels like he's losing a father, but I'm like you're gaining a different father, and a brother.”

McConaughey, 53, has been open about the difficulties that have occurred in his relationship with his mother. In 2020, he explained why he didn’t speak to her for eight years.

The actors starred together in the first season of the HBO series True Detective.

Soon, they will reunite for the new Apple TV+ comedy Brother From Another Mother.