Matthew McConaughey Says ‘Time Slowed Down’ After Move from L.A. to Texas
By Movieguide® Contributor
Sometimes, you have to go back to your roots. This was true for Matthew McConaughey and his family after a visit to Austin, Texas, during a family crisis.
“We can travel all over the world but the moment I land in Texas, the gravity just comes down, my shoulders relax, I know I’m home,” McConaughey’s wife, Camila Alves, told Southern Living.
The couple can pinpoint the moment that they decided moving to Texas from California was the right decision for them, as Alves sensed that “gravity” pulling her husband back to his home state since their stay there.
On a drive back from visiting McConaughey’s mother, Alves suddenly asked him, “You want to move here, don’t you?”
He responded yes, and she replied, “Let’s do it.”
So, the couple, along with their three children, Levi, 15, Vida, 14, and Livingston, 11, moved to Austin, Texas, in 2014.
The INTERSTELLAR star, born in Uvalde, has enjoyed the change of pace since moving from California.
“Time slowed down,” he said. “The clock was right, the body clock. And part of that is ritual; part of that is just the distance between places and the way people move. But it’s also the hospitality, the courtesy, the common sense, the lack of drama.”
At first, it was a little more of an adjustment for Alves, as she didn’t have any family or friends in the new town like she did in Malibu.
“We were living a happy life in Malibu,” the author and entrepreneur said. “We had a beautiful house that we’d built together and put a lot of love and care into. We were raising our kids there. I was growing everything in the yard. I had bees making honey.”
Eventually, Alves, who was born and raised in Brazil, said the culture reminded her of home.
“We grew up saying ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘No, sir’ or—as I should say—‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘Yes, sir,’” the model said. “It takes me right back to how I was raised.”
According to McConaughey, the family has found a sense of tradition and continuity since relocating to the Lonestar State.
“Ritual came back, whether that was Sunday church, sports, dinner together as a family every night, or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen, sitting at the island pouring drinks and nibbling while retelling them all in different ways than we told them before,” the 54-year-old explained.
That sense of ritual is one of the secrets that has helped the couple in their twelve-year marriage. In one interview, McConaughey shared one ritual that they keep even if they are in the middle of an argument—a morning cup of tea.
“I don’t make my tea as good as you,” he told his wife in an interview with PEOPLE. “But the fact that you make my tea and serve me my tea in the morning makes me go: ‘It just tastes better.’”
He added, “Even if you and I are in a disagreement, the fact that you still make my tea in the morning, serving my tea…it’s the difference between being married and dating.”
“[When you’re] dating somebody and suddenly you get in disagreement [you think] ‘oh, this is a sign of things to come. Better get out now.’ But you’re married and you disagree. You’re like, I’m not pulling the parachute,” he explained. “This …part I’m going to work through this. I’m still going to serve my man his tea.”
Likewise, if he cooks steak and sushi, for example, he will still serve her “because I know she loves it, even though we may be in a disagreement,” he went on to say.
The McConaugheys are not the only Hollywood couple who left the Golden State. Mark Wahlberg moved from California to Las Vegas because he wanted to give himself and his family a “fresh start” and “give my kids a better life and follow and pursue their dreams, whether it be my daughter as an equestrian, my son as a basketball player, my younger son as a golfer,” he revealed.
Christian actor Dean Cain also left California for Las Vegas.
“I love California. It’s the most beautiful state. Everything’s wonderful about it except for the policies. The policies are just terrible. The fiscal policies, the soft-on-crime policies, the homelessness policies,” Cain told Fox News.
Danica McKellar moved from L.A. to Nashville and shared what she loves about her new residence, as previously reported by Movieguide®:
“Tennessee is a total quality of life improvement. It’s gorgeous. I love the seasons. I grew up in Southern California, and I love LA, and I love California. But I have to say, the seasons are really something else. I love watching the leaves change colors, and I love it when it gets cold. And I love when it’s really hot, humid,” she told Fox News.
“My husband and I have been wanting more nature for a long time,” McKellar told PEOPLE shortly after her move. “We were kind of ready to not be in a city anymore.”
“I am just loving the fact that my Christmas movie characters have rubbed off on me,” she explained, referencing how many of the characters she plays on screen move from the big city to a small town. “I think it’s just a wonderful example of life imitating art.”
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