All About Matthew McConaughey's Parents, Kay and James McConaughey
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Mary Kathleen McConaughey and James Donald McConaughey welcomed Matthew McConaughey in 1969. Here's everything to know about Matthew McConaughey's parents, Mary Kathleen McConaughey and James Donald McConaughey.
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Matthew McConaughey's parents, Mary Kathleen “Kay” McConaughey and James Donald McConaughey, didn't predict he would become an actor.

The couple — who raised their three children in Uvalde, Texas, before moving to Longview — encouraged their boys to play outside and limited TV time to one hour before dinner.

"Nobody even thought about [acting] in our family," Kay said on Today. "We were all jocks. [Matthew] wanted to be a lawyer, until [casting director] Don Phillips saw him in a bar. He said, 'I need someone to play Wooderson in this movie, Dazed and Confused.’ And Matthew said, ‘Sure, I'll do it.’ ”

Unfortunately, when Matthew was five days into shooting the film, tragedy struck the McConaughey family: James died of a heart attack while in bed with his wife.

“He was my hero — he was almost my unattainable hero. You know, things, aspirations that I had, and still have to be like him,” he told Extra. “Also, fear of letting him down helped me to become the man I’m still trying to become, have become, and still trying to become.”

From Kay's perspective, Matthew has done well. "I look at these pictures and I go, 'Boy, what a life you've had, Matthew,' " she told Today. "I mean, just look at all the movies he's been in and all the people he's met, you know?"

From their relationship to careers and family, here's everything to know about Matthew McConaughey’s parents. Mary Kathleen “Kay” McConaughey and James Donald McConaughey.

They met at the University of Kentucky

James, who was raised in Morgan City, Louisiana, and Kay, who hails from Trenton, New Jersey, met as students at the University of Kentucky.

In addition to their studies, James ran track and played football under the legendary coach Bear Bryant, and Kay was part of the school's acrobatic performing team, the UK Troupers.

Kay proposed to James

While James played football at the University of Kentucky, he and Coach Bryant didn’t see eye-to-eye, leading James to transfer to the University of Houston.

“The summer before he started there, he went back to his mom’s house in Morgan City,” Matthew revealed to Garden & Gun magazine in 2016. “When he got there, my mom — his girlfriend and not-yet-fiancée — answered the door. She said, ‘I’m going to fast-forward this situation,’ and handed him an invitation to their wedding. ‘You’ve got twenty-four hours,’ she said. ‘I’ll need a yes or a no.’ ”

They married three times and divorced twice

After James and Kay first wed on July 28, 1968, they were in an on-again, off-again relationship for 24 years until he died in 1992.

Matthew opened up about their sometimes tumultuous marriage in his memoir, Greenlights, where he described arguments between them at home. One memorable fight between his parents occurred in 1974, when he recalled his mom repeatedly calling his father “Fat Man” during dinner, causing his father to flip the table, and his mom using the phone to break her husband’s nose.

"I was scared at the moment, but even then and immediately after that, I didn't ever question the love that Mom and Dad had or the love that they gave us," he said during an interview on Sunday Today With Willie Geist.

Kay knew her son included stories of her and James’ troubles in his book but wished he had mentioned some more positive parts of their union, too.

“My mother's read the book and said, ‘Every one of those you told are true on me and your father, but I wish you would've added some more of the times when we were sitting around hugging and having a great time, which was 99% of the time,' " he told Hoda Kotb on Today.

They welcomed three children

James and Kay welcomed their first son, Michael “Rooster” McConaughey, in 1954. The pair struggled to conceive a second child and adopted their son, Patrick McConaughey, a decade later when their firstborn asked for a little brother.

Fast forward seven years, and Kay became pregnant with Matthew, something she called “a miracle” during an appearance on Today.

"I mean, what a blessing he is," she said of her youngest son, born in 1969. "This child is a gift from God, and that's what the word 'Matthew' means, 'gift of God.' "

James was drafted by the NFL

The Green Bay Packers drafted the collegiate football player as a tight end in 1953. He was selected in the 27th round and was the 319th overall pick, according to the team's website. The Packers noted that records from this time aren't detailed, but it appears James didn't play a regular season.

James — who had a metal plate in his back and pins in his knee and ankle — never pressed Matthew into playing the sport and was rather relieved when his son told him he had other interests.

“I remember being really nervous when I went to him to say, ‘Dad, I’m not sure I want to play football anymore,’ ” the actor told Garden & Gun magazine. “And he went, ‘Great. That’s great.’ I said, ‘I’d really rather play golf.’ He said, ‘Good — you can play that till you go down.’ "

Kay was a teacher and James ran an oil pipe supply business

After his time in the NFL, James ran an oil pipe supply business while Kay worked as a kindergarten teacher at the elementary school Matthew attended. He still remembers one of the first lessons his mom taught him in school — about his name.

“My friend John says, ‘Hey Matt, wanna go play on the monkey bars?' I say, ‘Yeah,' and halfway to the monkey bars, I feel this hand on my shoulder ... get slammed to the ground," he said during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "I look up, it's my mother in my face, and she's like, ‘What are you doing?' I said, ‘I'm gonna play on the monkey bars with John.' She says, ‘Who is?' I say, ‘I am.' "

He added that his mom asked him, "What's your name?" After he answered the question, she told him, "Don't you ever answer to Matt again. I named you Matthew from the Bible."

Kay went on to teach Matthew as a substitute in high school and he has called her his favorite teacher. “What I loved about my mom's teaching was you always started with a book,” he said in an Instagram video for Nicholas Ferroni, PEOPLE's 2014 Sexiest Teacher Alive.

Matthew continued, "You always started with the history of what you were studying, the mathematics of it. You had to open the book, you had to learn the skill, learn the history of whatever it is you were studying."

James encouraged Matthew to act

While James never got to see Matthew's Hollywood success, he gave his son permission to let go of the notion of becoming a lawyer to pursue his dreams.

Recalling the moment during an episode of Q with Tom Power, Matthew shared he was surprised by his dad’s reaction when he broke the news he wanted to attend film school.

“I'm waiting for him to go, 'You want to what?' But instead, real calm he goes, 'Huh. Are you sure that's what you want to do?' And I immediately said, 'Yes sir.' "

Matthew nervously waited for his father to respond, expecting him to ask if he was out of his mind.

"Then he gave me three words that changed my life. He said, 'Well, don't half a-- it.' And I remember tearing up when he said that," the True Detective star said.

"It was more than approval that he gave me. He gave me rocket fuel with that line. The way he said it, he was like 'Do it. Not only do I approve of you doing it, but awesome. I'm giving you privilege and freedom to do it and responsibility to do it.' And it was the best thing he could have ever said to me."

Matthew and Kay once had a strained relationship

Once Matthew's career started taking off, he and Kay had to adjust to his newfound success.

"As soon as I got 'famous' after [1996's] A Time to Kill, I started to have my weekly Sunday call home to call my mother," he said on Red Table Talk.

It wasn't the same anymore, though. "Mother wasn’t answering the phone. A fan of my fame was answering the phone," the Dallas Buyers Club actor added.

Matthew disclosed that some of the things he would discuss with his mom on those calls would end up in the news a few days later. This infuriated him and led to years of strain.

"There were years there where I would not share things with her because I was also finding my own balance," he continued. "I was like, 'Look, mom, loose lips will sink ships. There are a lot of people that would like to know these things and it's none of their business.' "

The two made amends as Matthew's career firmed up in the early 2000s. "My boat was built well enough where I didn’t feel like she could sink it,” he shared.

Kay is close to Matthew and his family

Despite the ups and downs over the years, Kay and her son share a very close bond. Kay even moved in with Matthew and his family, which includes his wife, Camila Alves McConaughey, and three kids: Levi, Vida and Livingston.

“Camila and I have to work to find places for private conversation, but so far, so good,” he told Extra in 2021 of his mom living with them.

According to Camila, she and Kay had a rocky start when she began dating Matthew. After being "tested," the former model caught on to Kay's "antics," and they eventually formed "an amazing relationship."

"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," she said on Southern Living's Biscuits & Jam podcast.

Today, Camila frequently posts Instagram videos of her and Kay, including sharing words of wisdom from the matriarch and documenting their adventures together, like Camila coloring Kay’s hair, going to the movies, drinking margaritas and hanging out with the kids.

On the parenting front, Kay told PEOPLE she's "proud" of him. "I had no doubt when he decided to marry, which he took his time doing, that he would be a thoughtful, trustful husband,” she said in 2014. “He was brought up seeing his dad show these traits, and setting a good example is always the best teacher.”

Reflecting on his upbringing during an appearance on the Your Mama's Kitchen podcast in May 2024, Matthew said that if he sat down to breakfast and was "grumpy," his mom would send him back to his room to start the morning all over again with "gratitude for the day."

“If my attitude wasn’t great. If I didn’t go ‘Wow, look at this! Thank you for breakfast mom,’ she’d immediately jump in and go, ‘Get your butt back to your room. Get back in bed, and do not come in this kitchen to have the breakfast that I made you until you’re ready to see the rose in the vase instead of the dust on the table,' " he said.