Matthew and Kay McConaughey in 2012. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images for SXSW)
Matthew McConaughey’s mom, Kay McConaughey, is getting candid about marrying the same man — three times.
Kay, 93, opened up about Matthew’s late father, Jim McConaughey, in a recent interview with Austin Lifestyle, addressing their unusual marital history: They were twice-divorced and thrice-married to each other over the span of 39 years.
“Not many people can say that,” Kay told the publication. “I had three traditional real weddings, once in the Presbyterian church, once in the Catholic church and once in the Methodist church.”
Before exchanging vows the first time, Jim “couldn’t make up his mind whether he wanted to get married or not. I met him in college and we were pretty tight, but he couldn’t seem to make up his mind. I knew he loved me, but if we didn’t get married, I could go back to New York and model.”
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“So,” she continued, “I sent him an invitation to his wedding and I said if you can make it, fine, but if you don’t show up at the altar, then it’s over and I’m going to New York. But, he did show up. It wasn’t that he didn’t love me, he simply could not make up his mind. And I don’t think he wanted to get married at the time, but I wanted to get married!”
Kay and Jim had three children: Michael, Patrick and Matthew, who became a movie star in the 1990s. According to Kay, she had not expected to become pregnant with Matthew.
“In fact, he was such a surprise my friend took me up to the hospital to have Matthew and Jim McConaughey said, ‘Well, I don’t know if that’s my son,’ and I said, ‘Then don’t come up and see if he’s your son,’” Kay told Austin Lifestyle. “But he did, he decided to come up and see the baby, and I said, ‘What do you think?’ and he came around. I mean, who else’s baby would it have been?”
Jim died in 1992 and several years later, Kay sparked a long-term romance with businessman Clyde “CJ” Carlig, whom she calls “my soulmate. He was such a kind, thoughtful person and we were together for 17 years until he died of leukemia” in 2017.
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Kay and Carlig never walked down the aisle. She didn’t want to, and “was just so happy to have two men in my life that I really, really loved.”
Matthew, 55, has previously discussed his parents’ on-and-off relationship, telling Barbara Walters in a 2006 interview that they “would say this in jest, but there’s some truth to this as well. Both of them at different times said, ‘Well son, I love your mother. Six days a week.’ And Mom said the same thing, ‘I love your father six days a week.’ That didn’t mean they didn’t love each other on the seventh day; what it means is they said you gotta have time for yourself, you can’t lose yourself.”
