Matthew McConaughey Was Estranged From His Mother for 8 Years as She Acted Like a 'Fan'

Matthew McConaughey is opening up about establishing boundaries with his mother after becoming famous.

During his Monday, October 2, appearance on the "Whine Down with Jana Kramer" podcast, the Dallas Buyers Club star explained how he rebuilt his relationship with his mom, Mary Kathlene McCabe, after she sold stories about him to the media.

"I tried to change my mom," McConaughey explained of what led to their fallout. "For eight years, her and I had an estranged relationship where I couldn't have more than a conversation of, 'Hi, Mom, doing good. Love you. Bye.' Anything she asked me, I couldn't tell her personally because she didn't have a governor, she'd go to the press."

The 53-year-old put walls up with the matriarch after she completely crossed a personal line. "She showed up on [the TV series] Hard Copy, taking people to my childhood room, showing people, 'This is where he lost his virginity,'" he revealed.

When McConaughey confronted McCabe about her shocking actions, she claimed she didn't think that people would be paying attention to her stint on the news program.

"There were years where I could not talk to her," the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days star continued. "I tried to change her. I need just a mom right now, not a fan, and I didn't have it."

McConaughey then began to give his mother little tests to see if she would use the personal information. "What I tried to pull off was I'm going to give you more information to see if I can trust you with it again," he explained. "And it was like quit trying to prove that point, just don't give it to them. Don't give them that much. That's where our relationship is, and let's make it healthy and fun with what our relationship can handle."

While he noted that his relationship with his parent is not "shallow" currently, he still needs to be careful with letting her in. "There's a lot of people, friends, and relationships in my life that I think are better, that I have at an arm's length," the Hollywood hunk explained.

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

"We don't need full, all detail, all access intimacy with all people in our life. There's some people I like running into, that's where we're best," he added before emphasizing that humor has got them through the rough patches in their relationship, especially after she put his wife, Camila Alves, through the wringer when they first began dating.

"I'm not changing her, that's Mom. She was looking out for my feelings, she didn't know my feelings," he said of McCabe's initial treatment of the model. "But she tested the woman I had the feelings for. And the woman I was in love with went right through it and stood up and said, 'Hey, Mrs. McConaughey, let me tell you something.' My mom went, 'There we go.'"