Matthew McConaughey on meeting his wife: ‘the clock was ticking, I was about to be 40’

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I love reading interviews with Matthew McConaughey and I hope we never hear a bad word about him. He’s devoted to his wife and kids, he’ll tell us about it without sounding like he’s full of crap, and he has such a unique perspective on life. McConaughey has a new interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, which does some surprisingly in depth interviews. I covered an interview they did with him back in 2011 and I still remember it because he gave such great quotes. He was especially thoughtful about his relationship with the paparazzi and explained it as a kind of trade off for fame. He said he felt intruded upon but “that check’s already been written…. I don’t feel it’s unfair.” McConaughey has at least two prestige-type films coming out soon, that incredible-looking thriller with Anne Hathaway, Serenity, which is out in October and White Boy Rick coming out in September, an 80s crime film based on a true story. He’s nothing if not circumspect about his career, and he talked about that with CA. McConaughey also said that he met Camila, whom he married in 2012, at just the right time. They have three children together, sons Levi, nine, and Livingston, five, and daughter Vida, eight.

On meeting Camila when he was 37
“I mean, the clock was ticking—I was about to be 40 and my plan was to be married and have kids by that age. But I didn’t want to play the game of starting to feel anxious because, with too much anxiety, you can’t find a mate. And then you make a hasty decision.

“I knew men who had made hasty decisions and women who had done the same thing. But at that point, I wasn’t hunting. And then this amazing woman walked across my field of vision and I thought, ‘Who is that?’ And it was Camila.”

On switching gears from romcoms to more serious films
“I just said, ‘F**k the bucks—I’m going for the experience’ in the things I was choosing. I quit trying to project how something would be received and decided to just be an actor for hire again. So I shut down my production company and my music company and simplified the things on my proverbial desk. I love being an actor and going as deep as you can in a role, to really commit to the craft. I put my head down and went after roles that scared me.”

[From Cigar Aficionado via People]

I wasn’t a fan of Sex and The City when it aired, but Kaiser often mentions the SATC concept that men are like cabs and that they can have “their light on” looking for a partner. That’s what McConaughey reminds me of here, that he was looking for someone and that Camila caught his eye. In a recent interview he also said that he was grateful that Camila “doesn’t want to change me.” They seem like the real deal and I’m a fan. McConaughey has really grown on me over the years.

Also, Camila’s Instagram is really cute! I found one for MM but I don’t think it’s his official account. He is on Twitter although he doesn’t tweet much.

🍿Sunday night movie night in our house!

A post shared by Camila Alves (@iamcamilaalves) on

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42 Responses to “Matthew McConaughey on meeting his wife: ‘the clock was ticking, I was about to be 40’”

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  1. Maya says:

    Camilla is stunning and I love this couple.

  2. Sharon k says:

    She’s gorgeous. I hate his Texas twang in those stupid car commercials. When he whispers his lines, my skin crawls.
    Never saw his appeal.

    • tealily says:

      Ughhh, I love his twang. I was never a fan of rom-com McConaughey, but I swoon for prestige McConaughey. I’m with you, CB, I hope we never hear a bad word.

    • Esmom says:

      Lol, I think it’s cheesy but it doesn’t bother me that much. I blame the creative team that came up with the ad for encouraging to lay it on thick. He’s not my type but I find some aspects of his personality very attractive.

  3. Carol says:

    Camila’s hair is gorgeous … I definitely have hair envy

    • Anners says:

      That was my first thought, too! Gorgeous hair – wish mine was curly and beautiful like that 🙂

      • Naddie says:

        Curly hair used to be a source of shame not too long ago in here. I’m glad times are changing.

      • Lboogi says:

        Her hair is a Brazilian blowout, with a little body left to it. She is Afro-Brazilian with natural tighter curls in her hair

  4. Thatsallfolks says:

    Love love Camila Alves.

  5. Nev says:

    They are the hotness.

  6. Lightpurple says:

    Met him at a Red Sox game a few years ago. We were in the company suite of a friend for “Employees Night” and he and Camilla, who was pregnant at the time, were in the next suite. He came over and visited, shook hands with everyone, was really charming, and then sat out in the corridor signing autographs for an inning.

  7. Lily says:

    I’ve never heard a man admit to that. That’s so weird.

    His wife is so beautiful

    • Racer1 says:

      Oh its real. I work in a male domination profession-which I love and you can see the evolution and its very fast. The most recent one I witnessed was a coworker who started dating a female, six months later they were official, six months after that they got engaged, married the following year, and a child a year later. Its part timing and part genuinely being “the one”. I love to hear their stories about how they knew their wife was the one for them.

      • Garner & the Phoenix says:

        sorry to say its the former more and less the latter. We panic and think “Holy crap. its time to grow up and be a man like dad”. Sorry its a little unromantic but thats why I bought a house and got married. You can’t deny age is a part of it in terms of being a responsible father. We get to go a little longer but age gets us eventually too

  8. lucy2 says:

    They seem pretty solid. He was smart to change tactics in his career, and pretty lucky (privileged) that he was able to do so.

    Livingston McConaughy is a lot for a 5 year old to write out at school – I hope he has a nickname!

  9. Lila says:

    I think he and Penelope Cruz had very turbulent relationship but at the same time were into each other, so McConaughey was like “I want something similar to this, but with less drama”, so he found Camilla who has the same coloring, also has an accent and is similar looking to Penelope.
    He didn’t marry a blond American.
    I have at least 2 guy friends who literally did the same – started dating someone who looks exactly like their previous girlfriend.
    To my taste Penelope is far more striking and has her own thing going on – a successful career.

    • blank77 says:

      whats up Penelope

    • Shijel says:

      People have a type. Shocking.

    • Cleo2 says:

      @Lila

      Huh? Odd but I don’t even recall Matthew being with Penelope Cruz. At all.

      I recall when he was with Ashley Judd, and even when he had a light hearted thing going with Sandra Bullock – but Penelope Cruz I don’t recall. Maybe they kept it under wraps for whatever reason.

      That said, I doubt his choice of Camila had Jack to do with Penelope. Main reason is that they look nothing alike, they are not the same coloring at all and they’re from two different cultures – Camilla is brown, and Afro Brazilian (she reminds me of Halle Berry, facially) while Penelope is Spanish European. They both have melodic accents I’m sure, but it ends there. Lol

      Also, p.s. Matthew has never really had a ‘type,’ re your comment about blondes. He seems to appreciate beautiful women of all backgrounds. I remember he did a john Mellencamp video years ago and his love interest at the time was beautiful dark skinned African American supermodel Karen Alexander who it was rumored he dated. I’ve always liked him because I felt he loved the sistahs ala Bob Deniro. Lol

      • Lila says:

        He dated Penelope for more than a year right before he met Camilla. It looks like a typical rebound that worked out for him cause she has no problem being in his shade.
        and yes, they are very similar looking
        http://maniavaidosa.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Penelope-Cruz-e-Camila-Alves.jpg

        While Penelope is Spanish, thus European, it’s a well known fact that typical Spanish appearance used to be blond and quite light skinned back in a day. All Spanish of darker complexion (Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz types) are descendants of Northern African immigrants. Morocco, Algeria are separated from Spain with by a tiny Strait of Gibraltar that is about 9 miles wide and is and used to be crossed back and forth. It’s a contributing factor of why Spanish people have such a beautiful complexion nowadays. If I’m not mistaken Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek even played sisters in one of the movies. Cause Hayer also has Northern African blood in her.

      • Candac says:

        An ex-bf of mine was a frat bro of McConaughey’s which is why I know a bunch of his frat bros ended up following him to LA and living off him for years. My ex didn’t. He said Matthew only dated Latinas and black girls in college. Guess with Camila he got the ideal combination!

      • Cleo2 says:

        @Lila no offense but I explained earlier in the week in the Pete and Ariana thread, that if a person wasn’t invested emotionally at the end of a relationship, and thus was not in pain over a split, it technically can’t be “rebound.” Rebound doesn’t just mean quickly going from old to new, it means using the new as distraction from the old, because distraction is needed for the pain one is in.

        Thus, you can see how new partners would be insulted. It diminishes them and the relationship they have with the person.

        I don’t know if Matthew was so distraught from Penelope that he hooked up with another woman to distract himself (obviously her fans may want to think so), and neither do you. I tend to doubt it, as he doesn’t seem like that guy. He seems more a ‘wallow in his pain rather than inflict it on innocent parties,’ type. Therefore, if he was with Cruz, I think he was done by the time he saw Camila.

        As for the rest of your comment. I disagree with your assessment of the appearance of Europeans. Europeans aren’t necessarily naturally blonde or either they are part African. That’s ridiculous. Camila is of current Afro Brazilian descent, Penelope is not. Saying Penelope may have had ancestors who lived in present day Morocco a couple millenia ago,
        is different than what sub Saharan descended Camila is today. The dorky dad Ty Burrell on Modern Family is descended from free black women who lived only a century ago, that doesn’t make him Denzel Washington. Lol That side by side you posted shows how dissimilar they look.

        Recent and current West African heredity is still a different background than microscopic centuries old Arabic and North African heredity.

      • Amelie says:

        Matthew and Penelope definitely dated, they met on the set of Sahara. I don’t think they were together long, maybe a year or so. I think Penelope had just come out of her relationship with Tom Cruise (I’ve always wanted her to do a tell-all about that relationship as she dated him for three years!) and I have no idea who Matthew dated before that though it seems he dated at least Sandra Bullock at some point. Anyways they were together for a bit and from the sound of it he basically dumped Penelope for his now wife Camila when he saw her at some night club in LA.

      • Candac says:

        He definitely dated Penelope and it was quite serious. He moved to Madrid and lived there the better part of a year to be with her. MM also speaks Spanish fluently (he comes from a border town Uvalde) so I imagine she had a more significant relationship with him than with Cruise – Penelope’s English is pretty terrible. I guess it was serious but if she wanted to live in Spain and he wanted to live in the US, they must have decided it wasn’t going to work.

      • Lila says:

        @Cleo2 as a European who lives in Europe and travels around it a lot (cause it’s so small, lol) I can attest that Penelope’s unique beauty is purely Arabic. Her features, her nose, her coloring. Same is happening in France, lots of immigrants from Northern Europe (especially ex colonies) are contributing to how a “typical” French appearance is changing and becoming more unique and interesting. And while yes, it’s true that not ALL Europeans are pale and blond (and I never said that actually), it’s a stereotype that Spanish people are olive skinned and dark haired (and holding a rose in their teeth while dancing tango, lol). Mostly Southern Europeans are, which, again,happened because they are so close to Northern Africa. For some reason Americans don’t seem to know that a huge part of Africa is and historically have been populated by very light skinned Arabs..hmm..many even think that “Africa” is a country where only black people live, lol. Yes, I get what you’re saying about their heritage, but my point was that in the eyes of white American dude like McConaughey they DO fall under the same “type” – dark haired beautiful exotic (to him) woman with a thick accent. That was my point

  10. smcollins says:

    My love for MM started with Dazed & Confused and hasn’t dwindled. He’s definitely made some crap movies (Sahara, Fools Gold, Surfer Dude…) but he’s never lost his charm or charisma. I was bummed when he & Sandra Bullock broke up but it’s obvious that Camilla is The One for him, and vise versa. They make such a hot couple and beautiful family.

    • blank77 says:

      SB was never with him, she is into the ladies.

    • Happy21 says:

      Same with me. He captured me in Dazed & Confused, as did the car he drove in it which is my all-time forever dream car! LOL!

  11. Esmom says:

    I don’t know why I just thought of this but remember his bromance with Lance Armstrong? That was bizarre to me at the time. I wonder if they’re still friends.

    • Candac says:

      They’re still friends. Armstrong lived in Austin till recently. McConaughey is a big sports fan and is buddies with Roger Clemens, Vince Young, Kevin Durant, Drew Brees. He’s a major jock groupie, seems to have more pro-athlete friends than actor friends.

  12. Shijel says:

    The worst I’ve heard about Matty is that when he’s stoned or high, you can either get the chill guy, or the guy who’s pretty much travelling through the observable universe and nobody can catch him. But never harmful, just trippin’. Other things I’ve heard point towards him being a bit of a ‘troll’ with a solid and righteous head on his shoulders.

    They’re a gorgeous couple with a lovely family and I hope they are happy and remain so for good. Camila is entertaining to follow on instagram. She’s funny, thoughtful (her posts always make me happy), and she’s so beautiful I’m almost jealous of Matt.

    Anyway, good luck to them. Hollywood relationships are a meat grinder, but here’s to hoping they keep making it work.

  13. French Girl says:

    Remember Sahara ´s mess production. The former director disliked so much to work with him on Reign Of Fire ( he was a so huge party boy that the production make him to sleep in a castle in middle of nowhere) that he preferred to drop the movie. McC cost several millions on presents and whims on Sahara.

    • Candac says:

      You got it wrong on Reign of Fire. It was Christian Bale everyone hated. In one scene Bale was supposed to punch McConaughey in the face. He did it for real just to be a jerk. So McConaughey slugged him right back and knocked Bale out. The director left the actual footage in the film to give the finger to Bale.

      On Sahara McConaughey still had his big entourage of hangers on being given jobs. He finally dumped the entourage after meeting Camila. She cleaned house and sent all his old college buddies who’d been living off him, packing. Maybe Leo needs to meet a woman who’ll do him the same favor.

    • tealily says:

      delete

  14. ladida says:

    Very true about the “light,” this is how men think whether they realize it or not.

  15. Mrsb says:

    As simple as it may seem, yes men have their light on at certain times and it’s more about the time than thanthe right person. But I imagine for it to last, it better be a great fit.