Matthew McConaughey Opens Up About Being Sexual Abuse Survivor
Published
Matthew McConaughey has discussed the sexual abuse he faced as a teenager in his new memoir.
The Oscar-winning actor’s new book, Greenlights, was released on Tuesday, October 20. It’s a chronicle of McConaughey’s life; ’50 years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality’, as per the website.
The 50-year-old opened up about being a sexual abuse survivor, from his first experience of sex to being ‘molested’ a few years later.
McConaughey wrote, ‘I was blackmailed into having sex for the first time when I was 15. I was certain I was going to hell for the premarital sex. Today, I am merely certain that I hope that’s not the case.’
While not providing any other details, the Dallas Buyers Club star also wrote, ‘I was molested by a man when I was 18 while knocked unconscious in the back of a van.’
Prior to returning to the University of Texas as an acting professor in 2019, he volunteered for the campus’s Students United for Rape Elimination initiative, which saw him drive students back home on a golf cart at night.
Longhorns take care of each other, and it's 'safe' to say Matthew McConaughey agrees. Don't forget to use SURE Walk when traveling home late at night; you never know who might pick you up! #BeSafe #SafeChats
Geplaatst door The University of Texas Student Government op Maandag 28 november 2016
He explained how he’s ‘earned a few scars getting through this rodeo of humanity’, recounting past experiences from childhood to adulthood. ‘I got whipped until my butt bled for putting on a Cracker Jack tattoo when I was 10,’ he disclosed.
McConaughey also wrote, ‘I’ve never felt like a victim. I have a lot of proof that the world is conspiring to make me happy.’
Elsewhere in the book, he also discussed the tumultuous relationship between his mother and father, James and Kay, writing, ‘They were, at times, violent. As I say in the book, that is how they communicated. They were divorced twice, married three times, I mean, yeah, it was like the Pacific Ocean in a storm.’
However, he added that ‘those moments were so quickly superseded by the love and humanity’. His dad died in 1992, the details of which were shared in an excerpt with PEOPLE.
McConaughey explained:
I got a call from my mom. ‘Your dad died.’ My knees buckled. I couldn’t believe it. He was my dad. Nobody or nothing could kill him. Except for mom.
He’d always told me and my brothers: ‘Boys, when I go, I’m gonna be makin’ love to your mother.’ And that’s what happened. He had a heart attack when he climaxed.
Greenlights is available to buy now from Amazon and other major retailers.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 802 9999 between 12pm–2.30pm and 7pm– 9.30pm every day. Alternatively, you can contact Victim Support free on 08 08 16 89 111 available 24/7, every day of the year, including Christmas.
Topics: Film and TV, Film, Life, Matthew McConaughey
