Camila Alves reveals shocking truth about Matthew McConaughey

Camila Alves says Matthew McConaughey’s laid-back stoner image is fake: He ‘doesn’t even smoke’

Matthew McConaughey smiling in a purple turtleneck next to Camila Alves in a plaid blanket

Aug. 23, 2023 7:49 PM PT

Apparently, Matthew McConaughey is not so “Dazed and Confused” after all.

Camila Alves McConaughey revealed in a recent interview with Southern Living that her husband of 11 years, McConaughey, is not nearly as baked and carefree as his movie characters tend to be.

“I don’t think people actually have this image of Matthew anymore because [of] the kind of work and things he’s been doing,” Alves McConaughey said on this week’s episode of Southern Living’s “Biscuits & Jam” podcast.

“But when we first started dating, it was this image of Matthew of getting high, laid-back, no shirt, whatever — which, I’m like, ‘The guy doesn’t even smoke. What is this vision coming from?’”

The fashion model, 41, explained that the “Interstellar” star, 53, is “actually the opposite” of all those things. In reality, she said, he’s “very organized, very on-time, very prepared.” Alves McConaughey credited McConaughey’s mother with giving him “a lot of those traits.”

Alves McConaughey also spoke about her own relationship with McConaughey’s mom, whom she remembers “really testing” her when she started dating the “Dallas Buyers Club” actor. She said that her mother-in-law used to put her down by speaking to her in “very broken” Spanish and calling her by the names of McConaughey’s ex-girlfriends.

According to Alves McConaughey, their dynamic didn’t improve until she brought her mother-in-law with her on a work trip to Istanbul. During the trip, McConaughey’s mother started crying about something, and Alves McConaughey eventually realized the now-91-year-old woman was “full of s—.”

“I brought my spicy Brazilian Latin side, and I let her have it,” Alves McConaughey said. “I went back at her.”

After a heated “back-and-forth,” Alves McConaughey recalled, her mother-in-law finally looked at her and said, “OK. Now you’re in.”

“All she wanted was for me to fight back,” she said.

“From ... that night on, we have the most amazing relationship, and I have so much respect for her. She has so much respect for me. It can get tricky sometimes, but we always end with a good laugh and a joke.”

Alves McConaughey stopped by the “Biscuits & Jam” pod to discuss her “Women of Today” initiative, an online community of women who lift one another up by sharing recipes, self-care regimens, home decor ideas, fashion tips and healthcare information.

She and McConaughey got engaged in 2011 and married in 2012. They share three kids: Levi, 15, Vida, 13 and Livingston, 10.