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 claims he never sought therapy after the traumatic experiences, which he says happened on two different occasions.
He stated that he has been married to his wife, Brazilian model Camila Alves, since 2012 and he never once let past experiences effect his marriage.
McConaughey first talked and gave details to 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 continued, “It was the support from others and family that helped me 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.”
