Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves opened up about their nearly two-decade romance and home life while reflecting on their move from Hollywood to Texas during a rare in-depth interview together.
While gracing the cover of Southern Living, the couple did not hold back as they reflected on their new reality since leaving Malibu with their sons Levi, 15, and Livingston, 10, and daughter Vida, 13, for more privacy in 2014.
‘We were living a happy life in Malibu. We had a beautiful house that we’d built together and put a lot of love and care into. We were raising our kids there. I was growing everything in the yard. I had bees making honey,’ the mother-of-three reflected.
Following a family crisis, which brought their family to Austin, Texas to help his mom and two brothers for several weeks, Alves noticed a shift in her spouse’s energy that was lighter and happier.
She went on to recall watching him as they were stopped at a red light with a ‘peaceful but confident, energetic look’ on his face.
Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves opened up about their nearly two-decade romance and home life while reflecting on their move from Hollywood to Texas during a rare in-depth interview together this month
‘You want to move here, don’t you?’ she remembered asking him, to which he responded: ‘Yep.’
Her response was: ‘You son of a b**ch.’
‘As soon as I chuckled, the light turned green and we pulled out,’ he added, noting she quickly agreed.
McConaughey, who was born in Uvalde, Texas, and moved to Longview in 1980, admitted the Malibu-to-Texas transition was more difficult for his wife as she has only ever lived in Brazil, New York and Los Angeles.
Still, she pointed that her upbringing in Brazil wasn’t too different.
‘We grew up saying ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘No, sir’ or—as I should say—’Yes, ma’am’ and ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘ she pointed out. ‘It takes me right back to how I was raised.’
Additionally, she described some of their traditions in Texas, including ‘going to the church’ every Sunday and how sports have become ‘a stronger tradition for the kids.’
‘Ritual came back, whether that was Sunday church, sports, dinner together as a family every night, or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen, sitting at the island pouring drinks and nibbling while retelling them all in different ways than we told them before,’ McConaughey interjected.
Some of the biggest draws to the Oscar winner about returning to his home state are how a ‘mile here in Texas feels like a mile’ and ‘an hour feels like 60 minutes.’
While gracing the cover of Southern Living , the couple did not hold back as they reflected on their new reality since leaving Malibu with their sons Levi, 15, and Livingston, 10, and daughter Vida, 13, for more privacy in 2014
‘We were living a happy life in Malibu. We had a beautiful house that we’d built together and put a lot of love and care into. We were raising our kids there. I was growing everything in the yard. I had bees making honey,’ the mother-of-three reflected
Following a family crisis, which brought their family to Austin, Texas to help his mom and two brothers for several weeks, Alves noticed a shift in her spouse’s energy that was lighter and happier
She went on to recall watching him as they were stopped at a red light with a ‘peaceful but confident, energetic look’ on his face
‘Time slowed down,’ McConaughey explained. ‘The clock was right, the body clock. And part of that is ritual; part of that is just the distance between places and the way people move. But it’s also the hospitality, the courtesy, the common sense, the lack of drama.’
In addition to sitting down for the cover story, the lovebirds posed for a stunning photo shoot in their favorite Texas getaway spot, Marfa, while promoting their own brand of tequila, named Pantalones.
The images include depict them cozying up in various different from embracing as they took a dip in the pool after dusk, laid together in a field and shared a dance on a dirt road at golden hour.
During a video interview, the duo spoke about the philosophies his mom, Kay McConaughey, instilled in him from an early age.
McConaughey, who was born in Uvalde, Texas, and moved to Longview in 1980, admitted the Malibu-to-Texas transition was more difficult for his wife as she has only ever lived in Brazil, New York and Los Angeles
Some of the biggest draws to the Oscar winner about returning to his home state are how a ‘mile here in Texas feels like a mile’ and ‘an hour feels like 60 minutes’
‘Don’t watch somebody do what you can go out and do for yourself, get out there and go do it, go find out, go win, go lose,’ he stated. ‘I don’t think that’s particular to how I was raised, I think there is something in the Southern ethos that’s synonymous with that here.’
While speaking of his mother, he said, even at 91, she was ‘obviously kicking a**… for many reasons.’
‘One is her optimism, it’s not delusional, it’s survival. The answer is yes, that’s the word she lives off of… She does not stress, I’ve never seen someone forgive themself quicker than Ma Mac,’ he said.
Alves said she’s learned how to ‘turn the page’ from her mother-in-law.
‘No grudges. You do not go to bed with any kind of grudge on anyone else, or yourself. That’s Ma Mac,’ McConaughey concluded.
As for the ‘most requested’ recipes in the McConaughey household, Camila listed no-mayo coleslaw, honey chicken and Brazilian chicken stroganoff as her family’s go-to requests.
After nearly ten years in Texas, Alves said she can confidently call Texas her home.
She and McConaughey famously met at the Hollywood nightclub Hyde in 2006, at the peak of his rom-com fame while she was working as a model.
They wed six years later in Austin, Texas over a three-day celebration at their home in front of their closest loved ones and A-list stars like Reese Witherspoon, Kenny Chesney and Woody Harrelson.
The 2024 South’s Best Awards are out now on SouthernLiving.com and the April issue hits newsstands on March 22.