The actor grew up with two other siblings but wants a much bigger family. He said that he has a large hand in shepherding his three children.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 19, 2021. It has since been updated.
While some people prefer to have small families, there are some who just love having a big family and a full house. Their family life is very important to them and no matter how busy they are, they make time for the people closest to them. Actor Matthew McConaughey, who has played many roles in his life, loves playing the role of a father the most. He loves it so much that he would like to do it eight more times.
McConaughey is already a dad to three kids, Levi, 14, and Livingston, 10, and daughter Vida, 13, with his wife, model and Yummy Spoonfuls co-owner Camila Alves. And, he grew up in a house with two more siblings, brothers, Rooster and Pat. But, he wants a much bigger brood than he currently has.
"I’d like to have eight more kids, but my wife’s not on the same page," he said in March 2020, as per PEOPLE. "I understand that. It’s a lot easier for us [men]," he added. The Texan mentioned that he saw himself in a paternal role since he was a child.
"I remember at 8 years old, it’s really the only thing I ever knew I wanted to be was a dad," the actor, 53, said. "I’ve got a large hand in shepherding my three children up until they’re 18 and out of the house… That’s the thing I think I do most honorably is having three autonomous, conscientious, confident children," he said.
McConaughey has acted in 70 movies and TV shows but he considers his kids his "living legacy." Having children changed him as a person, the University of Austin professor revealed. "I looked up and started to say … you know what, I just had a son. I said, the character I am in my life, the man I am in my life, the story I’m living is more vibrant than the characters in the stories that I feel like I’m playing in some of these romantic comedies," McConaughey said. "So, I took off in kind of an un-branding phase. Not a rebranding phase, an un-branding phase."
The actor believes that one of the best things a man could do while raising a child is to show how much he loves their mother. "Best thing you could probably do as a father is make sure they see how you love their mother. The secret to being a husband? Look, I’ll say this: Neither one of us have really tried to change the other one. We got into our relationship because we really admired and were turned on by who the other person was before we met them, before we got together. And we do not try to change each other. If anything, she pushes me to be more of myself and I hope I do the same for her," he said, as per HuffPost.
As a parent, he advocates that children need to be outside, playing, and enjoying nature. "If the sun is shining, you need to be outside, just like my mother told us as kids ... I mean, [we do] a lot of outside play if the weather is good. My son [Levi] is really into piano right now. My daughter is really into drawing and making things. Anybody who’s got kids knows you can go to Toys ‘R’ Us and spend $100, but sometimes that cardboard box or that pile of dirt outside is the best gift, and it’ll last for months, and they go back to it and back to it," he said, as per InStyle.
He also loves being affectionate with his children and letting loose with them on Friday nights. "Friday night’s the no-curfew night. It’s pizza night, it’s a movie night, it’s ‘all the kids can sleep with Mama and Papa night.’ That night can go late. Sometimes we have to lie about the time and say it’s midnight when it’s really 10 ’cause we can tell it’s gonna go to 2," he said, as per PEOPLE. However, the Interstellar actor also ensures that his kids are disciplined and he and his wife enforce it themselves. There are no nannies involved in their household.
"We mix the ‘alright, alright, alright’ into the discipline," the White Boy Rick actor added. "The main thing is that my wife and I, Camila, we have a similar moral bottom line. And as you learn, if you have kids, every day they get older, you realize how much more it’s really DNA. We can nudge ’em and shepherd ’em, et cetera et cetera, but they are who they are and right now, I’m just happy to say we have three healthy ones and they’re very much individuals."
References:
https://people.com/parents/matthew-mcconaughey-wants-to-have-8-more-kids-wife-not-on-the-same-page/
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/matthew-mcconaughey-parenting-quotes_l_5dc021c3e4b0bedb2d4f85b8
https://www.instyle.com/videos/matthew-mcconaughey-interview
https://people.com/parents/matthew-mcconaughey-parenting-discipline-3-kids-wife-camila/
