Matthew McConaughey reflects on healing after molestation, blackmail
Matthew McConaughey says he wasn’t going to let his experience of being molested and blackmailed into having sex when he was a teenager affect his future relationships.
“I’m not gonna be afraid of relationships because my first experience was blackmail. Uh-uh. That’s an aberration,” the actor, 52, said while speaking to Amanda de Cadenet on the “Conversation: About the Men” podcast.
“And I’m not gonna let it beat me … I’m not gonna let that beat my sense of trust in people and say, ’No, I can have a healthy relationship.’ Non-negotiable. No.”
McConaughey — who has been married to Brazilian model Camila Alves since 2012 — noted that he never went to therapy after the traumatic experiences, which he claims happened on two separate occasions.
The “Dallas Buyers Club” star first detailed the alleged incidents in his 2020 memoir, “Greenlights.”
“I was blackmailed into having sex for the first time when I was 15,” he wrote. “[I was] molested by a man when I was eighteen while knocked unconscious in the back of a van.”
Further reflecting during the podcast episode, McConaughey admitted that he didn’t make a connection between the two instances of abuse until later in life.
“I didn’t connect ’em,” he said. “Am I gonna carry that? I chose, non-negotiably, I’m not going to carry that, bring that baggage into the life I’m going to lead, and how I treat people and how I trust people, and how I look at circumstances and the risk I may take.”
McConaughey went on to talk about how receiving support from others helped him heal and eventually move on.
“I’ve had very good friends. I’ve had good mentors,” he explained.
“I’ve had elder men, elder women, married couples, that pulled it off — from celebrating 50-year anniversaries, that have taken the time to sit with me.”