Matthew McConaughey reveals why he didn't speak to his mother for eight years

Actor says: ‘She was always still my mom, but she became a different person’

Matthew McConaughey has opened up about his reasons for not speaking to his mother, Kay, for eight years.

On Wednesday, the actor appeared on The Howard Stern Show, where he revealed that their estranged relationship resulted from his mother leaking stories about him to the media.

According to McConaughey, the problem began shortly after he became famous, when he would call his mom to talk, only to find what they talked about in the press days later.

“I was calling my mom at that time after I’d gotten famous, needing to talk to my mom,” he said, adding that he felt a “little unbalanced” with his new success and wanted his mother’s support.

“And my mom was not the only one on the phone,” he continued. “The woman that was on the phone was a fan. Of my fame.

“And so I would have conversations and all of a sudden, whoop, what we talked about shows up in the paper three days later.”

“I was like: ‘Mom, that was between us.’”

The Gentleman actor also referenced one instance where his mother went on the TV show Hard Copy to give viewers a look into McConaughey’s childhood home.

"There's Mom, giving someone a tour through the house, [saying] 'Here's where I caught him with so and so in bed. Here's where I saw him in the shower, you know what he was doing in there, haha,’” the actor recalled.

According to McConaughey, after he saw the show, he called his mom and asked: “What did you do?” to which she replied: “What are you talking about?” before admitting that she didn’t think he would find out.

The Oscar winner said that it eventually got to the point where he didn’t “share much” with his mother, explaining that he felt she was “always still my mom but she became a different person.”

“I just had to make some boundaries. And it was a strenuous relationship for eight years,” the 50-year-old said.

However, according to McConaughey, he and his mother have since reconciled “completely” - once he felt stable in his career.

“Once I got my career sort of stable and felt on my feet, I let go of the reins and said: ‘Go get it, Mom. Whatever you want. There's the camera.’ And she's been awesome,” he said. “She's got incredible stuff to say and do. And I'm like, go for it.”

The actor, who recently published his new memoir Greenlights, concluded that it was “tough for eight years,” but that he and his mother are now “on the other side of it.”

McConaughey previously revealed that Kay moved in with him and his wife, Camila Alves, and their children, Levi, 12, Vida, 10, and Livingston, seven, during quarantine, and that it had been nice spending the increased time with family.