Hollywood legend Woody Harrelson said he is the actual brother of Matthew McConaughey in an interview with Esquire to promote his new HBO show, White House Plumbers.
ESQ: Woody, what’s this I’m hearing about you and your good pal Matthew McConaughey now thinking you may be actual brothers?
WH: Well, it’s very much true. I learned from Ma Mac, Matthew’s mother, that she did have a relationship with my father for a relatively short period of time that coincided with the time that his father and mother were on a sabbatical, and with the time of Matthew’s, let’s say, origination.
We haven’t done a test, but there are too many times that I think to myself, My God, the similarities! The things he does, the things he says—just the way he is. I’ve felt that for years.
It’s Herculean, what my mom did.
The art of being a mother is already an extraordinary thing, but to be a mother who’s working full-time and figuring out how to keep everything going on a relatively small salary—she was a legal secretary, she wasn’t paid much—and all of us had our own eccentricities.
You know, I had some problems.
I had to be put in a special school that could deal with someone like me. And she managed to make that happen.
But I do remember one time reading this letter she wrote to the government about taxes, that what little she had, they wanted.
She has a great sense of humor, but you got what a tough, tough situation she was in. I admire her quite a lot.
ESQ: Who was the letter addressed to?
WH: To the U.S. government. One of the last lines was, like, “You’ve taken everything from me. Should I give up one of my chairs? One of my children?”
She didn’t say children, but she had a funny term. Anyway, it made me laugh, and it also just made me feel such sympathy.
ESQ: When did some of that anger that, as you say, made you a tough kid at times, start to dissipate?
WH: I still feel anger and rebellion constantly, but now it’s more against the system that exists in our country than it is against a parent.
But I started appreciating her more when I was getting towards ten, eleven years old.…Well, I rebelled against this new man she had in her life.
I didn’t like him, and it’s too bad, because I really didn’t give him a chance. I took all of his clothes that he had at the house and threw them out on the lawn and then I ran away.
I didn’t run that far, so they were able to find me. My aunt talked to me about “You don’t get the sacrifices your mother has made for you.” It was outside of my own little purview. That helped.
ESQ: Your mom created a space where you were allowed to keep the eccentricities that made you you, which has worked out well career-wise. Do you think about that a lot as a dad now?
WH: Absolutely. I want my kids to do whatever is going to make them happy.
One works on our farm, and one is going to law school, and then the youngest one wants to be an actress, singer, performer, et cetera.
For at least two out of three of those, I’d choose something else, but I love them for wanting to do these things and I’d do anything to support them.
