Phrases like "larger than life" and "live wire" come to mind when talking about 88-year-old Kay 'K-Mac' McConaughey. She's big-hearted actor Matthew McConaughey's mom. And she still looms very large in his life and figures prominently in Greenlights, his new memoir about his childhood in Texas and his Hollywood career.
Originally from New Jersey, Kay met Matthew's father, Jim at the University of Kentucky. Theirs was a very eventful, passionate, and combative marriage. More of that later.
Let's have a look at Kay and her marriage to Jim and what she's been up to since he died in 1992. She's been in a movie or two and written a memoir which in typical K-Mac fashion, she titled I Amaze Myself.
Prepare to be amazed. One thing is for certain: Actor Matthew McConaughey has his hands full managing K-Mac. Or trying to, anyway. Things got so bad between them that at one point they were estranged for 8 years.
Jim And Kay McConaughey
To begin with, "Big Jim" and K-Mac totally had a love/hate kind of thing going on. They were married three times, divorced twice. And their fights were not just shouting matches. Oh no, Jim and Kay got physical. Once Kay whacked Jim with a phone and broke his nose. And Jim, a former college and professional football player, broke her finger on more than one occasion.
One moment they were punching and slapping one another. The next moment they were making love. Sometimes in their bed. Sometimes on the kitchen floor. And all of this in full view of Matthew and his brothers "Rooster" and Patrick. That was their normal. And the funny thing is, they all seem to have turned out of it just fine.
Jim died in 1992, just as he said he would, making love to Kay. And Kay, in a flimsy nightie, followed his body out, revealing his manhood and telling the embarrassed neighbors that's why she called him "Big Jim"!
Matthew learned early on not to mess with K-Mac. Once when he was just a kid and he came running when a friend called him "Matt", Kay grabbed him and slammed him to the ground, saying that she had named him "Matthew" and anyone who dared call him "Matt" was 'jackin' with me". He got the point real fast.
Age Is Just A Number
We hope that Matthew's wife Camila Alves actually likes K-Mac because mama always seems to be around for Awards ceremonies and those all-important after-parties. Ever the dutiful son, Matthew bought a house in Austin, so he, Camila, and their 3 kids can see Kay more often. Matthew even teaches a film class at the University of Texas.
Pushing 90, Kay still parties hard with the best of them. Says Matthew: “I do not remember the last time when we partied when she didn't go to bed after me and get up before me.”
Master Lessons In How To Embarrass And Annoy Your Son
Kay being Kay, she regularly embarrasses her rich and famous movie star son. See, K-Mac had a taste of fame when she was in a 2011 movie called Bernie. And she wants more.
A red-faced Matthew has said: “Every single role I get, she wants to be in the movie." Subtle? Forget it. She visits him on sets and corners casting directors and producers. She's even pitched a remake of The Graduate with her as Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) and Matthew as Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman), her lover. No one seems interested. It would just be too bizarre for words. But to K-Mac it seems like a great idea. For the life of her, she can't understand why it will never happen.
But that's the thing about K-Mac. She truly believes she can do anything she wants to do. Her 2008 memoir I Amaze Myself says it all. Even when she screws up, she never admits it. In many ways, her cigar-chewing, swaggering son Rooster is a Kay mini-me. And Matthew? He just gets red in the face when the two of them are around!
Is Kay full of herself? In a word, yes. Once, Matthew said to her: "Mom no one forgives themselves quicker than you. Do you ever have any regret, or do you ever at the end of the day say, 'I could work on that'"?
K-Mac didn't miss a beat, saying: "Honey, every single night when I go to bed, I have a long list of those things. But the thing is, when I wake up in the morning, I’ve forgotten them all.’” And then she smiles that mega-watt smile and all is forgiven.
Sometimes, in spite of his great love for her, Matthew finds K-Mac totally annoying. A case in point: Matthew has repeatedly reminded her not to talk to the press without checking in with him and his publicist first. Every time, she swears up and down she will do just that. Does she? No way. After one such solemn promise, Matthew turned on the TV and saw Kay on Hard Copy, showing some reporter Matthew's old room and chatting openly about his childhood. Matthew was beside himself. Did she care? Nope. After that little episode, they were estranged for 8 years. Things are cool now, but it was intense for a time.
That's just life in the K-Mac lane.