Matthew McConaughey’s Mom Would Send Him Back To Bed When His Attitude “Wasn’t Great” At Breakfast

Matthew McConaughey’s mother took a tough love approach to teaching her kids about the importance of gratitude. And her lessons began at breakfast. 

In a clip from an upcoming Mother’s Day episode of the Audible Original series,Your Mama’s Kitchen shared exclusively with People, McConaughey opened up about his mama Kay’s method for handling mornings when he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. 

"My mom was not a good cook, but she always made sure that we had hot meals, always,” the actor recalled. But if McConaughey came to MaMac’s table in the morning with a bad attitude, she sent him right back to bed.

“If my attitude wasn’t great. If I didn’t go ‘Wow, look at this! Thank you for breakfast mom,’ she’d immediately jump in and go, ‘Get your butt back to your room. Get back in bed, and do not come in this kitchen to have the breakfast that I made you until you’re ready to see the rose in the vase instead of the dust on the table,’” he told host Michelle Norris.

McConaughey has spoken about his mom’s favorite saying before. He even had it framed. 

“It was a big line for her that expanded beyond the kitchen as far as perspective and gratitude,” he told Norris. 

The father of three went on to describe how his mom would “chase” him all the way back to his room. 

“She goes, ‘Get back in bed,” McConaughey shared. “You’d get back in bed with your clothes and your school bag and everything and get under the covers. And she’d go, ‘Now I’m going back in the kitchen. Let’s do this over.’”

“And you’d come back in and go ‘Wow look, scrambled eggs, or I got toast again…’ And she goes, ‘Good morning to you sunshine. Look at that another beautiful day — wasn’t guaranteed.’ That was always the kick. You had to get started on gratitude for the day,” he concluded.

Just add it to our list of reasons to love MaMac!