Matthew McConaughey is doubling down on his defense of his mom after she called his wife, Camila Alves, the wrong name.
“My family — and part of Camila and I as well — we cherish the value of a sense of humor and comedy,” the Oscar winner said on the “Whine Down with Jana Kramer” podcast Monday while admitting that his mother Mary McCabe’s treatment of Alves when they met had ruffled some feathers.
“Some people were like, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ but … Camila wasn’t wounded about it,” he insisted. “What tickles us may bruise others.”
McConaughey, 53, went on to praise his mom for “looking out for” him when he began his relationship with the now-41-year-old model.
“She was looking out for me,” he said. “She tested my feelings and tested the woman I had the feelings for. Big picture, that’s pretty cool actually.”
The “Interstellar” star also gave Alves a shout-out for going “right through” the hazing and earning McCabe’s respect.
McConaughey previously told “ET Canada” that this was a “rite of passage and initiation” because outsiders “don’t get into the McConaughey family easily.”
He explained last month, “My family … we make you cry and then we pick you up and make your favorite drink.”
In addition to McCabe referring to Alves by McConaughey’s ex-girlfriends’ monikers, she spoke to the handbag designer in “broken” Spanish.
The “Kids BBQ Championship” host explained on the “Southern Living’s Biscuits & Jam” podcast in August that she had to “fight back” and bring her “spicy Brazilian, Latin side” to earn her mother-in-law’s respect.
“I went back at her, and we had it back and forth, back and forth,” Alves recalled. “And then at the end, she just looked at me, and she was like, ‘OK. Now you’re in.’”
She and McConaughey started dating in 2006, with the “Green Lights” author getting down on one knee five years later.
The couple tied the knot in 2012 in Texas and have gone on to welcome three children — Levi, 15, Vida, 13, and Livingston, 10.
