Matthew McConaughey spent nearly a decade keeping some distance from his mother Kay because she was leaking sensitive details about him to news reporters.
The Academy Award-winning actor, 55, and his mother, 93, spoke with People about the complicated dynamic in play after Matthew came to the realization that his mother was violating his trust with the leaks.
The Dazed and Confused alum said that he didn’t completely sever the relationship, but took a much more guarded approach when sharing information with his mother.
‘We had about an eight-year period where I had to have short conversations with her on our Sunday phone calls,’ the Dallas Buyers Club star said, ‘because she was sharing a lot of that information.’
The True Detective star said he didn’t need to investigate much to suss out where the leaks were coming from.
‘I’d tell her something on Sunday between son and mom, and Tuesday I’d read about it in the news or see it in the local paper,’ McConaughey told the magazine.
Matthew McConaughey, 55, spent nearly a decade keeping distance from his mother Kay, 93, because she was leaking sensitive details about him to news reporters. Pictured in Toronto earlier this month
The Academy Award-winning actor was pictured in London on SundayÂ
Kay, who plays the mother of McConaughey’s character Kevin McKay in his new AppleTV+ thriller The Lost Bus, told the outlet of the tumultuous time: ‘We were on a hiatus.’
McConaughey – who is father to three children with wife Camila Alves, 42- Levi, 17, Vida, 15, and Livingston, 12 – had a different way of putting it to the publication.
‘We had some boring conversations on Sunday,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t tell you s***.’
Matthew said that the tipping point came after Kay let reporters into his childhood home, and he watched footage of it days later on television.
Kay said: ‘I took people through the house and said, “Well, this is where Matthew slept” – Someone called him and said, “Are you watching what your mama’s doing?”‘
Kay added, ‘I was so proud that I was just telling the world.’
Matthew said he was irritated by the breach of privacy displayed by his mother, although that she had an amusing comeback when he broached the uncomfortable topic with her.
Matthew said , ‘I call her, she answers the phone. I go, “Mom, what’d you do?” She says, “What?” I said, “Don’t tell me, ‘What?'”
 Matthew McConaughey, his mom Kay and son Levi were pictured in Toronto earlier this monthÂ
The A-lister posed between his wife and mom at the 2014 Oscars, where he won Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club, defeating a field that included Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprioÂ
He added: ‘I could hear the same show I was watching that she’s taking the camera through the house in the background – she goes, “Oh, that. I didn’t think you’d find out.”‘
McConaughey said that eventually he reached a point in his career where his relationship with his mother was more important to him than any awkward publicity she might open him up to.
‘I got stable enough with my own position and fame that I was like, “You know what? My mom can say whatever the hell she wants,”‘ McConaughey said. ‘Let’s take the lasso off and just go for it, Mom.’
Matthew said his mother has been more mindful and respectful of his privacy in the ensuing years since their hiatus.
‘We go to red carpets and she said, “Any rules?”‘ he said. ‘I was like “No rules at all. Tell all the raunchiest things you want.” And she did and it was fine.’
He added, ‘It’s much more fun now.’
