Matthew McConaughey recalled how his mother Kay McConaughey supported him after he was arrested in 1999 for playing bongo drums while naked and high.
The 55-year-old actor detailed the infamous incident in his bestselling 2020 memoir, Greenlights. Last weekend's Texas Book Festival featured McConaughey and Malcolm Gladwell as featured authors, and the Oscar winner sat down with director Richard Linklater to discuss Greenlights.
While speaking with Linklater, McConaughey recalled the advice Kaye gave him after his infamous arrest.
According to People magazine, the Texas native recalled that Kaye told him, “When you go out in front of the media, you're so proud.'' “'I know what you were doing last night wearing your birthday suit and playing bongos and smoking funny stuff. You've done that many times before. And I know I'll do it again.''
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Matthew McConaughey recalled the advice his mother Kay gave him after he was arrested for playing bongos naked while high in 1999. (Getty)
McConaughey said Kaye had previously shared similar words of wisdom with Linklater, who directed McConaughey in his breakthrough film, Dazed and Confused.
“'Don't go into a place as if you're buying, go into a place as if you own it,' she told me before going to prom. “I said that the morning before I went to do a screen test for 'A Time to Kill,'” he said.
In “Greenlights,” McConaughey wrote that he was arrested after attending a football game between his alma mater's Texas Longhorns and Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Kay told her son to “hold his chest up” and face the media. (Greg DeGuire/WireImage)
After the Longhorns' win over the Huskers, McConaughey, then 29, recalled that Austin was “on fire” and “it was time to celebrate.”
“I partied all night until Sunday and partied until Sunday night without getting any sleep,” he wrote. “At 2:30 that Monday morning, I finally decided to relax. It was time to dim the lights, take off my clothes, open the windows, and bring the scent of jasmine from the garden inside.
“It was time to smoke a bowl and listen to the beautiful African melodic beats of Henri Dikonge playing through my speakers at home. Before arriving in Memphis with my favorite Afro, I stood on the drum set and listened to the blues. It was time to follow the rhythm” – Conga, the Cuban drum born of ritual and tongues. ”
“I will go in front of the media and hold my head high.”
However, McConaughey wrote that the nude jam session was unexpectedly interrupted.
“What I didn't know was that while I was flopping around in bliss, two Austin police officers also barged into my home without warning, wrestled me to the ground with batons, and handcuffed me. , he thought it was time to pin him to the floor,” he recalled.
McConaughey recalled that a police officer told him he was being charged with “disturbing the peace, possession of marijuana, and resisting arrest.”
“F–you, mom-! You broke into my house! F–yes, I resisted!” the “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” star allegedly yelled at the officer. I remembered
McConaughey detailed the arrest in his 2020 memoir, “Greenlights.” (Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Sygma via Getty Images)
McConaughey wrote that other officers tried to wrap a blanket around the actor's naked body, but he refused.
“Oh no!” I barked. “I'm not wearing any clothes! My bare butt is proof that I was thinking about myself!” he remembers telling the officer.
As the actor was being escorted to a police car, he realized that his arrest was drawing a crowd.
McConaughey said: “There were six police cars with lights on and about 40 neighbors on the street, so information about who had been arrested must have been spread through the police scanner.”
After arriving at the Austin Police Department, McConaughey recalled being persuaded by a fellow inmate to wear “men's orange facility pants.”
McConaughey initially told the inmate that his naked state was “proof of my innocence.”
“'We're all innocent, dude, believe me, you want to wear this,'” the actor recalled the inmate saying.
McConaughey and attorney Joe Turner outside prison in 1999. (Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Sygma via Getty Images)
“Maybe it was his honest eyes, or the fact that he was a criminal associate, or maybe it was the 6-foot-6 prison bird built like a brick house. “Maybe the best thing to do is to say, 'I'd like to put on some pants before I start chirping.'” McConaughey wrote.
After spending the night in jail, McConaughey was visited by Judge Penny Wilkoff and criminal defense attorney Joe Turner.
Wilkoff decided to dismiss misdemeanor charges of breach of peace and possession, and granted bail for McConaughey for resisting arrest.
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Mr. McConaughey wrote that Mr. Turner advised them to leave the prison through the back door as reporters had gathered in front of the building.
The actor wrote, “I feel guilty and don't know how to deal with it when I get out of prison.” At that point, he called Kay.
The actor's charges of disturbing the peace and possession were dismissed and he was charged with resisting arrest and released on bond. (Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Sygma via Getty Images)
“Seeking fearless comfort, I decided to call my mother before I chose to leave my first prison,” McConaughey wrote. “Perhaps it was the fact that I was confident that she would not relent to my situation, but at the same time I knew that she would pour me a drink and toast to how I had fallen into it. .
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“Was it her that answered or that new groupie fan? I didn't know. It turned out to be both.
“'What, Matthew?! You broke into my house!? You son of a bitch, brace yourself,'” Kay recalled saying. There's nothing wrong with hitting someone. Who do you think would come to your house like that?'
“Exactly what I needed,” McConaughey wrote. “I hung up and decided to stride toward the media crowd emerging from the front rather than sneak out from the back.
“Two days later, BONGO NAKED T-shirts were all over Austin.”
Matthew McConaughey speaks at the 2024 Texas Book Festival in Austin. (Gary Miller/Getty Images)
During McConaughey's appearance at the Texas Book Fair, Linklater pointed out that McConaughey is not the only author in his family.
“You're not the first McConaughey to write a memoir,” the director told him.
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“Your mother lost you,” Linklater added, referring to Kay's 2008 self-published memoir.
“You want to know what my mother's memoir is called? 'I Surprise Myself.'” She had a bumper sticker and still puts it up. “I surprise myself,” McConaughey said.
“She's 92 years old, I don't dispute that,” he added.
