Boy in This Pic Was Thrown in River by Mom, Yet at 53 Is a Hollywood Icon & Was Named ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ Once

Someone who’s since become a big celebrity in Hollywood was once beaten by his parents as a child.
The actor, however, didn’t hold grudges against his parents and even moved his mother in with his wife and children.
In 2020, a man who’s since become a celebrity revealed on Facebook’s Red Table Talk how he’d had a difficult childhood. He told how his parents believed in teaching their children life lessons with tough love and physical punishment.

The star recalled being beaten on his bottom until he bled at age ten because he’d worn a Cracker Jack tattoo. And the first time he threatened to run away from home, his parents packed his bags instead of stopping him!

The star learned to swim by force when his mother threw him into the Llano River, where he had to fight to swim to the bank or float away on the rocky waterfall.

Despite all the traumatic experiences, the celebrity was exposed to absolute and unquestionable love between his parents, although sometimes it was “bloody.”

In a different interview, he was asked if he’d comprehended that his parents’ behavior was wrong. The star, who was Little Mr. Texas for 43 years, confessed to being scared when incidents happened but never questioned their love for each other or the one they gave him and his siblings.

All the details of his gruesome childhood appeared in his memoir, “Greenlights.” He spoke openly of his “ugly and sometimes violent” upbringing because that was the time the love they shared with his parents was most challenged but never beaten.

Despite his mother treating him in a way most people would describe as abusive, the star reconciled with her and took her in.

Who Is the Boy Who’s Now a Hollywood Actor and Lives with His Mother?
The boy with the hard upbringing is now other than Matthew McConaughey, who, despite his past, went on to become a Hollywood icon who was named People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2005. In November 2020, the actor shared that he doesn’t believe his parents abused him.

Livingston Alves McConaughey, Camila Alves, Levi Alves McConaughey, Matthew McConaughey, Vida Alves McConaughey, and Kay McConaughey at the Texas Medal of Arts Awards on February 27, 2019, in Austin, Texas | Source: Getty Images

The star felt it wasn’t fair for someone else to insist he was abused. The “Dazed and Confused” star explained he isn’t in denial, and neither are his parents, but he didn’t look at what happened to him as abuse.

McConaughey’s wife honestly described Kay as feisty, confident, and with a positive attitude.
Today, he’s a husband to Camila Alves and a father to three children, Levi, Livingston, and Vida. In August 2023, the author, 53, said he didn’t raise his children the way he was brought up but didn’t judge how his parents did it because the punishment was earned.

In October 2020, during his “Live with Kelly and Mark” appearance, he revealed his mother, Kay, had been living with him since the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine started. McConaughey said things were going well, and his mother could now spend each day with her grandchildren instead of seeing them twice monthly.

Having his mother with him and his family is an “amazing experience.” Alves once revealed how light-hearted and helpful her mother-in-law is, and she also kept the laughter going in the home when they were together.

Camila Alves, Matthew McConaughey, and his mother Kay McConaughey at the premiere of "Fool's Gold" on January 30, 2008, in Los Angeles, California | Source: Getty Images

McConaughey’s wife honestly described Kay as feisty, confident, and with a positive attitude. Being 88 at the time, Alves thought the older woman was a daily reminder that mind over matter worked, especially during the pandemic.

Her husband is devoted to his family and seems to hold no grudges against his parents. Today, the six-person family lives happily together with no traces of the actor’s past.