The ‘Zombieland’ star didn’t know the secret until after 25 years of knowing McConaughey’s mother.
ByJaelani Turner-Williams
August 22, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Woody Harrelson says Matthew McConaughey’s mother, Kay, revealed after 25 years of knowing him that she and Harrelson’s late father were “more than friends.”
- Harrelson has suggested the actors could be half-brothers because Kay reportedly saw Charles Harrelson while divorcing McConaughey’s father, though they have not confirmed the theory with a DNA test.
- The longtime friends and True Detective co-stars will reunite in the Apple TV+ series Brothers, premiering next month.
Woody Harrelson has recalled discovering that his father apparently had a relationship with Matthew McConaughey’s mother years before the two actors ever became friends.
While attending the Sarajevo Film Festival this month, Harrelson revisited the story while speaking toVariety about his longtime friendship with McConaughey. He recounted how the Dallas Buyer’s Club actor’s mother, Kay McConaughey, 93, fessed up about being “more than friends” with Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, who was an organized crime member who died in 2007 at 68 years old.
The actors have co-starred together in several projects, including critically acclaimed series True Detective, and will reunite in Apple TV+ show Brothers, which premieres next month.
“Matthew’s mother told me…I’ve known her for 25 years. And then she told me, I knew your father,” Harrelson said in the video below. “Like, you know, with the ellipsis. So, I’m thinking, ‘Oh, that’s weird that she’s never told me this 25 years.’ And she was a little tight. She’d had her Kendall Jackson, she was feeling good.”
“‘Well, what’s behind this story?'” Harrelson wondered. “And then I find out they weren’t just friends. There was a little more to it.”
This isn’t the first time Harrelson has spoken about the connection. In 2023, Harrelson theorized that as both actors are Texas natives, he and McConaughey might be brothers. McCounaughey’s parents were going through a divorce at the time that Kay began seeing Charles Harrelson.
“Then there’s possible receipts and places out in West Texas where there might have been a gathering, or a meeting, or a ‘knew’ moment,” Harrelson said on an episode of podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera.
Also in 2023, Harrelson jokingly requested a DNA test on an episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, although he believed it would be a “big deal” for McConaughey. “I mean, he feels like he is losing a father. But I’m like, no, you’re gaining a different father and a brother,” Harrelson said.
