Camila Alves Tells How Matthew McConaughey’s Mom Felt About Her Revealing Their Past Feud

Camila Alves says her mother-in-law is calm about her public airing of their feud. The Brazilian model revealed last month on Southern Living’s Biscuits & Jam podcast that her relationship with husband Matthew McConaughey‘s mother, Mary Kathlene McCabe, was frosty when she first started dating him. “She did all these things when I first came in the picture, right? She was really testing me…I mean, really testing me,” Alves said at the time. “She would call me by all of Matthew’s ex-girlfriends’ names, she would start speaking Spanish with me in a very broken way, kind of putting [me] down a bit. I mean, all kinds of stuff.”

During an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the Michael Kors Spring Summer 2024 runway show, Alves explained how McCabe reacted to the headline-making story. “Oh, she loves it. She loves the limelight,” Alves shared. “And it’s a true story. You know, I wasn’t making it up. I wasn’t exaggerating. It’s just a real story. Things like that do happen. And I think the most important thing is not necessarily to be stuck on the story [it] is the fact that we got past it.”

Alves explained on Biscuits and Jam that the barriers fell once she pushed back with her “spicy, Brazilian, Latin, side,” and now the two are the best of friends. “And then from that day on, that night on, we have the most amazing relationship, and I have so much respect for her. She has so much respect for me,” Alves said on the podcast. And while they can sometimes have “tricky” moments in their relationships, they can always figure it out with a “good laugh and a joke.”

“We got it to the other side with joy, with laughter, you know?” she told ET. “And right now, like she’s one of my best friends, like she’s my buddy, like she really is.” “You gotta understand from whatever your mother-in-law…hurdles are that you have to pass. You just have to put yourself in a situation where you can’t get out of it. You’re just gonna have to work it out,” Alves said. She added, “There’s no way out. You just have to work it out. That’s it. And trust me, it’s worth it. Get to the other side.” Alves and McConaughey made their first red carpet appearance together in 2008 at the premiere of McConaughey’s film Fool’s Gold. They were married in 2012 and have since welcomed three children: sons Levi, 14, Livingston, 10, and daughter Vita, 13.