Matthew McConaughey has taken many risks throughout his career, which has led to his roles in classic films like Dazed and Confused, A Time to Kill, and, of course, Dallas Buyers Club. Lately, he's even teased perhaps engaging in Texas politics and running for governor down the road. But perhaps one of his biggest risks of all was trying to win the affection of his wife, Camila Alves, the very first night they met.
According to what Matthew told People in 2017, he wasn’t looking for love the night he went out with his friend Lance Armstrong in the spring of 2006. While making margaritas at a club in Hollywood though, he spotted Camila from across the room. Funny enough, before that moment, Matthew had admitted to himself that he was “looking too hard” and needed to take a step back.
"I was like, 'Wait, just wait. Be yourself. She’ll come if she’s supposed to come. And if she doesn’t, that’s okay, you’re still a good man, McConaughey,'" he told People in October 2020. "That’s when she showed up, and she moved right to left in front of my eyes across that club. It was as if she was floating. And I did not say, ‘Who is that?’ I said, ‘What is that?’”
After failing to wave her over, he gave himself a pep talk before approaching her. He invited Camila and her friend to his table to enjoy the drinks he’d made. But the true test may have been when she began speaking Portuguese. Thankfully, Matthew rose to the occasion and held a conversation he’s still proud of today.
“We had a great connection. I spoke better Spanish and Portuguese that night than I have since, you know what I mean?" he told Oprah Winfrey for The Oprah Conversation on Apple TV+.
"You pulled it out," Oprah said. "Well, it came from somewhere,” Matthew replied.
As it turns out, the actor was practically unrecognizable to his love interest. “The first interaction, I did not know who he was,” the Muxo handbag designer reportedly told Access Hollywood. “At the time, he had a really long beard and he had this Rasta hat. He was all covered up, and I didn’t really realize who he was.”
Years after they met, Matthew revealed that Camila came into his life at the right time. “It’s gotta be the right person but it has to be the right time,” he told People in 2017. “We went out on our first date three nights later and I knew then that the next night I wanted to go on another date … And I've been wanting to go on a date with her for the last nine years. And not with anybody else."
On July 7, 2008, Camila gave birth to their first child, a son named Levi. Less than two years later, on January 3, 2010, the family welcomed their daughter, Vida. Matthew joked that it was around this time that his then-girlfriend was ready for something more. “Well, we had children first. Two of our children before we got married, before she handed me the invitation to our wedding,” he said to People.
On Christmas Eve 2011, Matthew proposed to Camila. The following summer, on June 9, 2012, the two officially tied the knot at their home in Austin, Texas. Family and friends came together to celebrate the duo, who reportedly whispered their vows to each other. Of course, their children also got to participate in the ceremony — Levi was the ring bearer and Vida was the flower girl.
A few months later, on December 28, 2012, their son Livingston was born. Since then, Matthew and Camila have learned plenty about what it means to be parents.
“The main thing is that my wife and I, Camila, we have a similar moral bottom line. And as you learn, if you have kids, every day they get older, you realize how much more it’s really DNA,” he said on the Today show. “We can nudge 'em and shepherd 'em, et cetera et cetera, but they are who they are. And right now, I’m just happy to say we have three healthy ones and they’re very much individuals.”
And as for whether or not the couple plans on growing their family again, Matthew and Camila have different ideas. “I’d like to have eight more kids,” the father of three said on a HISTORYTalks: Leadership and Legacy panel in March 2020. “My wife’s not on the same page. I understand that.”
But who knows what the future holds ...
