Matthew McConaughey says Woody Harrelson could be his real brother

In a surprise Hollywood twist, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have revealed their suspicions that they might be real brothers.

The stars of True Detective, who are reuniting for a new Apple TV+ comedy Brother From Another Mother, have questioned whether they might actually have the same father in real life.

Speaking on Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, McConaughey said: “You know, where I start and where he ends, and where he starts and I end, has always been like a murky line. And that’s part of our bromance, right?

“My kids call him Uncle Woody. His kids call me Uncle Matthew. And you see pictures of us and my family thinks a lot of pictures of him are me. His family thinks a lot of pictures of me are him.”

He continued: “In Greece a few years ago, we’re sitting around talking about how close we are and our families. And my mom is there, and she says, ‘Woody, I knew your dad.’ Everyone was aware of the ellipses that my mom left after ‘knew’. It was a loaded K-N-E-W.”

McConaughey said his mother’s remark moved him to investigate his family history, and whether she might have had a fling with Harrelson’s father in which McConaughey was conceived.

“We went on to unpack what this ‘knew’ meant,” he said, “and did some math and found out that [Harrelson’s] dad was on furlough at the same time that my mom and dad were in their second divorce.

“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.”

The actors have not yet decided to take a DNA test: “Look, it’s a little easier for Woody to say, ‘Come on, let’s do [DNA tests],’ because what’s the skin in it for him?” McConaughey said.

“It’s a little harder for me because he’s asking me to take a chance to go, ‘Wait a minute, you’re trying to tell me my dad may not be my dad after 53 years of believing that?’ I got a little more skin in the game.”

McConaughey was estranged from his mother, Mary Kathlene McCabe, for several years. The man he has believed is his father his whole life, James, died in 1992.

Harrelson’s father, a hitman called Charles, died in prison 2007. His mother is Diane Lou Oswald.