Matthew McConaughey Defends ‘Funny’ Mom Testing His Wife Camila: ‘What Tickles Us May Bruise Others’

Matthew McConaughey sheds light on his family’s sense of humor.

In one episode Whining downstairs with Jana Kramer Oscar-winning podcast released on Sunday Dallas Buyers Club the actor elaborated on his comments about past interactions between his mother Kay McConaughey and wife Camila Alves McConaughey.

“My family — and part of Camila and I, too — we cherish the value of a sense of humor and comedy,” Matthew, 53, told Kramer and her co-hosts.

In the August episode Southern LivingOn the Biscuits & Jam podcast, Camila, 41, revealed how her mother-in-law-to-be joked when the couple first got together in 2006.

“She really tested me. I think really testing me,” Camila recalled at the time. “She would call me all of Matthew’s ex-girlfriend’s names, start speaking Spanish to me in a very choppy way, kind of muffling, all sorts of things.”

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Kay McConaughey and Matthew McConaughey.

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

To “turn on” her, Camila said she “allowed.” [Kay] have it.” She recalled Kay, 91, approving of the match after bearing the brunt of Camila’s “spicy Brazilian Latin side”.

“At the end, she just looked at me and said, ‘Okay, now you’re in.’ All she wanted was for me to give her back, and from that day forward, that night forward, we have the most amazing relationship,” she concluded. “I have so much respect for her, she has so much respect for me. It can be awkward at times, but we always end up with a good laugh.”

Matthew McConaughey’s Wife Camila Alves McConaughey Says His “Huge, Relaxed” Image Is Not Real

Speaking to Kramer, Matthew admitted that some listeners have objected to his “funny” mother’s behavior in the past. But, he clarified, “Camila was not wounded because of that.”

“What tickles us can bruise others,” he said magical mike star added.

In fact, Matthew said, Kay was “looking after” him by grilling Camila. “She tested my feelings and the woman I had feelings for. Big picture, it’s actually great.”

Matthew and Camila, who have sons Levi, 14, and Livingston, 10, and daughter Vida, 13, remain close to Kay – who the family calls “Ma Mac”.

The actor also talked about the clan’s humorous dynamic with ET Canada last month. “My family is big on rites of passage and initiation, and you don’t get into the McConaughey family easily,” Matthew said.

Three children of Matthew and Camila Alves McConaughey grow up over the years: photos

“We’re testing you,” he added. “My family, we humbly wait, make you cry, then come get you and make your favorite drink, ‘You’re welcome.’ So there are initiations, rites of passage that my family has always enjoyed.”

Camila Alves McConaughey and Matthew McConaughey.

Gary Miller/WireImage

In July, Matthew and Camila’s just keep livin’ foundation announced the launch of its Greenlights Grants Initiative, seeking to help “school districts across the country access billions of dollars in federal school safety funding” included in pieces of legislation such as the federal bipartisan Safer Communities Act from 2022. The initiative was created after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Matthew also published a hit picture book, Just because, this year. “It came to me at 2:30 in the morning like a song in my sleep,” he told PEOPLE of the inspiration for the book. “It was a song in my mind, I got up and wrote it down.”

“I believe this book will resonate with children of all ages ‘just because’ it speaks to the child in all of us,” he said.

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Source: HIS Education