Matthew McConaughey Says Leaving Hollywood for Texas Made Him Feel ‘Connected' to His Definition of Home

Mar. 15, 2025

Matthew McConaughey attends the 12th Annual Mack, Jack & McConaughey Gala at ACL Live on April 25, 2024 in Austin, Texas.Photo:Rick Kern/Getty

Rick Kern/Getty

Matthew McConaugheyis opening up about “the push and pull” of living in Austin after leaving Los Angeles.

During the Nov. 20 episode of theGood Trouble with Nick Kyrgiospodcast, tennis proNick Kyrgiostold the 55-year-old actor that he seems like the type of guy who never forgets his roots or loses his home town pride. Kyrgios, 29, then asked McConaughey, “What does Texas really mean for you?”

“Home, for me, is where a mile feels like a mile. An hour feels like 60 minutes,” replied the Academy Award-winning actor. “[When] I’m working and I’m really busy, I getaheadof time. You go on vacation to like the Bahamas or something, I getbehind[on]time."

He continues: “Home, I feel like I’m on time with relationships, with work — my pace, my flow through life, feels like it is on time.”

Jamie Squire/Getty

McConaughey, who spent the early years of his career living in Hollywood while starring in hit romantic comedies such asThe Wedding Planner,How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days,Failure to Launch, andFool’s Gold, moved back to his home state with his wifeCamila Alves McConaugheyin 2014.

Once there, he told Kyrgios that he made a pact with his wife that they’d stay put until he was offered more roles that didn’t pigeonhole him as a rom-com guy. “‘I’m not going back to work unless I get offered roles I want to do,'" he recalled telling her.

But, despite eventually being offered good roles in other genres, including his Oscar-winning performance inDallas Buyers Club, the couple has remained in Texas ever since and the they now have three children together: sonsLevi, 16, andLivingston, 11, and daughterVida, 14.

Actor Matthew McConaughey looks on during a game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on October 19, 2024 in Austin, Texas.Tim Warner/Getty

Tim Warner/Getty

To put one of McConaughey’s most popular one-liners to use, everything in Texas seems “all right, all right, all right” for the actor — and he’s balanced and at peace. That includes with his neighbors, despite what he points out is an often divisive political landscape in the southern state.

“I live in Austin, which is a liberal city in a very conservative state. I like that push and pull,” he told Kyrgios. “I like the structure of the red around the freedom of the blue. So, the blueberry and tomato soup of Texas, I like that.”

Even though McConaughey and his family have deeply planted their roots in Texas, that’s not going to stop him from trotting the globe. “A lot of Texans are very connected to home,” said the actor. “But we have a spirit of ‘get out there, go off, use your passport, boy. Go travel, and come back and tell us some stories.’ ”

source: people.com