Matthew McConaughey reflects on losing his father in his early twenties: 'A safety net had gone...'
Matthew McConaughey felt as if a "safety net had gone" when his father died and that is when he truly "became a man" for himself.
Matthew McConaughey felt as if a "safety net had gone" when his father died.
The 55-year-old actor lost his dad James when he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1992 at the age of 63, and reflected in a chat with 'Maze Runner' star Jacob Lofland that he truly "became a man" amid his grief.
He told Interview magazine: "Well, when my father moved on, it was obviously hard because I didn’t even think he was killable, you know?
"Through the mourning and the pain, it’s the biggest moment of becoming a man.I remember feeling like, 'There’s a certain safety net that I’ve always had behind me that’s gone'.
"Because dads are, like, they’re above the law."
'The Rivals of Amziah King' star recalled becoming more "courageous" since losing his father and faced things in life with a more head-on approach than he would have beforehand.
He said: "Yeah. I remember, though, gaining a lot of courage. There were things I was doing that he had taught me how to do, but I was kind of half-a****** them, because I felt like, 'Well, the real dude’s right behind me'. His moving on kind of gave me a kick in the caboose to have courage."
When Jacob - who also explained that he had recently lost his father and described having had "just a lonely feeling" since then - suggested that there was "no room to stumble" following the death of a parent, Matthew was in complete agreement.
He said: "No. Stuff that I was a little bit afraid of, I wasn’t scared of anymore. I was like, “Oh, that’s nothing.” It grounded me in a really courageous way. You can’t be on deck anymore, to use a baseball term."
Jacob added: "I agree. I’m experiencing some of that now, actually. It’s still pretty fresh—I lost him in July. But a hundred percent—I do believe that losing the man who made you, you have no choice anymore; you better become the man that he’s taught you to be."
Matthew - who has Levi, 16, Vida, 15, and 12-year-old Livingston with his wife Camila - also believes that, for him, moving on came from having his own children.
He said: "That’s a painful but beautiful side about fathers moving on. The next thing that was seminal in my life that you might find down the line is having children."
