Matthew McConaughey & Wife Welcome ‘Cool’ & ‘Respectful’ Son Levi To Social Media In Sweet Video

Jul 10, 2023

Matthew McConaughey is an American actor that first gained attention in the 1993 comedy "Dazed and Confused." He went on to excel in many other supporting roles in films, including "Angels in the Outfield." His first leading role came in 1996 when he starred in "A Time to Kill." Following this, Matthew starred in films of many different genres throughout the late '90s, which showed his range as an actor. 

One particular genre in which he excelled was romantic comedies. This genre dominated the films he starred in throughout the 2000s. Some of his more popular films were "The Wedding Planner," "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," "Failure to Launch" and "Fool's Gold." Playing a romantic lead so many times established Matthew as a Hollywood heartthrob. 

Starting in 2011 with "The Lincoln Lawyer," Matthew began appearing in more dramatic films. In 2013 he received critical success playing the role of Ron Woodroof in "Dallas Buyers Club." His performance in the film earned him numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. The following year he starred in the HBO series "True Detective," which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. 

Outside of his impressive career, Matthew is also a family man. He married his wife, Brazilian model Camila Alves, in 2012. The couple shares three children named Levi, Vida and Livingston McConaughey. As they've grown, the children's resemblance to their gorgeous parents has become clear. Now, Levi will be able to flaunt his gorgeous inherited features on social media after his parents allowed him to join Instagram and TikTok after turning 15 years old.

Before he became the star he is today, Matthew was a pretty ordinary guy. He was born on Nov. 4, 1969, in Uvalde, Texas, and moved to Longview, Texas, in 1980. Toward the end of the decade, he visited Australia and ended up living in New South Wales for a year.

Matthew eventually made his way back to Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and film. While he once thought he would go on to become a lawyer, those dreams changed as he began to discover his true calling for acting.

The star started out by working in television commercials during the 1990s and was even cast in a Trisha Yearwood and Don Henley music video a few years later. Finally, in 1993, Matthew made his big screen debut, although it was in a very small role in the film “My Boyfriend’s Back.”

Still, it was clear that the aspiring actor had a knack for the industry, and he continued pursuing a career in film and television. It wasn’t long before Matthew found himself becoming more popular and landing more roles, many of which ended up being leading roles.

Matthew has been an icon in the movie industry since the early 1990s. While he has starred in a plethora of films in many different genres, he was once most known for his heartthrob moments in the romantic comedy movies he has appeared in. With his smooth charm and plenty of shirtless scenes, it’s not hard to see why Matthew had been dubbed as the go-to guy for romantic comedies.

Although the famous actor’s breakthrough in the industry came from his part in the ensemble comedy “Dazed and Confused,” Matthew's real rise to fame came from his time portraying the handsome and sexy boyfriend in a number of romantic comedy films. His sweet southern drawl and charm, along with his great looks, made him the perfect candidate for the genre.

Some of Matthew’s most classic romantic comedy movies include “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days” and "Fool's Gold," starring opposite Kate Hudson, “The Wedding Planner” with Jennifer Lopez, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” where he worked with Jennifer Garner and “Failure to Launch'' with Sarah Jessica Parker.

Matthew fully embraced being Hollywood’s rom-com go-to guy, and he was able to make a lot of money as he continued to gain more fame and success. However, he didn’t want to stay in this part of the industry for the entirety of his career and embraced new opportunities when they came his way.

“I’m the go-to-guy at rom-coms,” Matthew said during a June 2021 Apple Music interview with country music star Tim McGraw. “I’m living in a pad in Malibu surfing on the beach shirtless. I’m shirtless rom-com McConaughey and I’m like, ‘You damn right I am, those rom-coms are paying for these houses that I’m renting on the beach, baby.’” 

Proud of how far he’s come with the help of his early claim to fame in the movie industry, Matthew said, “I’m fully happy with that.” The 53-year-old star has been an actor since the early 1990s and has starred in plenty of movies in various genres, but he owes his early rise to fame to his roles in rom-coms.

“At the same time, I started to feel like every rom-com script I did, I go, ‘Oh, that’s a good one. I think I can do that tomorrow morning,’” Matthew added. However, he didn’t want to stay in the genre forever, as he felt like he had more talents to showcase and more to contribute to the entertainment industry. “Then I was like, ‘Well, I’m glad you feel like you could do that tomorrow morning,’ but I was like, ‘I want to be scared.’ I want to look at something and go, ‘Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do with that,’” Matthew said.

This led Matthew to venture out and look for different types of roles to help broaden his horizons and expand on his current resume. He went through a career renaissance as he continued to turn down large amounts of money for rom-coms so he could focus on getting jobs where he could portray different types of characters.

During his interview with McGraw, Matthew talked about just how much money he turned down so he could push his career forward. “They started at an $8 million offer. I said no,” he explained. The offer continued to rise and rise until it got to a whopping $14.5 million deal, but McConaughey still turned it down. “Let me tell you, at $14.5 million, it was the same words at the $8 million offer, but it was a more well-written script sir,” McConaughey said. “It was a funny script. It had more. But I said no.” 

This was the catalyst for changing his career, and although he didn’t get any jobs for the next 14 to 15 months, Matthew stayed optimistic. During the time he was not working in Hollywood, he was able to disconnect from the industry, and the industry disconnected from him. Matthew’s time as a rom-com actor was no longer the focal point of his career, and he was able to work on rebranding himself as a more serious actor.

“Because I found anonymity in those two years — I underbranded — and no one knew where I was,” Matthew said. “By not being around, they were like, ‘You know who’s a bright new idea? McConaughey for this.’ Then when they came, I jumped on it.”

Some of the movies Matthew went to star in following his rom-com legacy and dry spell included “The Lincoln Lawyer” in 2011, “Magic Mike” in 2012, “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2013 and “Dallas Buyers Club” in 2013, and Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" and the television hit "True Detective" in 2014. 

While he re-branded his career away from romantic comedies, Matthew has made sure to up his romance game in his real life. He has been married to Alves since 2012, and the two are completely smitten with one another. McConaughey has referred to his wife as an other-worldly being and has also described her as graceful, beautiful and possessing a strong sense of identity, according to E! News.

Back in 2014, the couple shared some more details about their marriage. According to Us Weekly, it was love at first sight for Matthew, but not for Alves. Fortunately, the pair gave their relationship a shot and have now been married for more than 10 years. 

Speaking about the difference between Matthew in a romantic comedy film versus his real relationship, Alves jokingly said:

“It’s very funny because people see him onscreen or out there in public in a certain way, and they have this vision of him being this romantic and so passionate. Just very romantic and grabs you and kisses you. And sometimes I’m like, ‘Who is this guy? Can you be a little bit of that?’ Sometimes I’m like, ‘Can we bring that guy home for a little bit?’”

Fortunately, it seems like Matthew has worked hard at making sure to prove that he is extremely romantic in real life, too. Speaking with TODAY in 2018, Matthew explained that his approach to maintaining the romance in his marriage is due to a low-key approach and that he doesn’t like to buy extravagant gifts for his wife. “I don’t have a certain thing I buy her,” he said. “An earnest handwritten note, that she knows I sat down and took some time and has some poetry to it, that’s worth more than whatever retail I paid for something.”

Matthew looked like a total family man when he stepped out on the red carpet in 2019 with his beautiful wife, three children, and his then-87-year-old mother. The award-winning actor was honored at the Texas Medal Of Arts Awards in Austin. 

However, we think the real honor goes to how doting of a father he is. It was a family affair for the actor as he showed how grown-up his children had become at the awards night. They looked like stars themselves.

Levi, Matthew's eldest son, wore a beige plaid suit, while Vida dazzled in a lavender dress with black strappy shoes, according to People. His youngest child, Livingston, looked adorable in a dapper suit that was finished with a bow tie. 

Alves stunned in a beautiful floral gown. The couple first met at a bar, where Matthew spotted Alves from across the room, he told Southern Living, and with one look at her, he said to himself, "Get out of the chair and go get her." The couple was married in 2012 and are still happily married and live together with their three kids.

The actor spoke about raising his kids with Alves during an interview on Today. Matthew said, "My wife and I have a similar moral bottom line. When kids try to good cop, bad cop ya, we're on the same page. If they try to play us, we give the same answer. We also have a lot of fun. We can shape them, but they are who they are."

Speaking more about his family in 2020, Matthew revealed that he would “like to have eight more kids,” according to Us Weekly. “My wife is not on the same page,” he added.

In October 2020, Alves shared a photo of her and Levi appreciating a chocolate chip cookie on Instagram. She captioned the post:

"The look on our faces says it all..the BEST SUGAR-FREE chocolate chip cookie skillet recipe from our friend @roccodispirito! 🍪🎉 It's been a week full of celebration with @officiallymcconaughey's #Greenlights book release so we had an excuse to make this amazing dessert. Judges at home give it a 10/10! Linked the recipe in my stories so you can all try it now!"

Fans couldn't stop pointing out how much Levi looks like his dad. "Omg he looks just like Matthew," one user commented, while another person added, "Omg that's a mini Matthew McConaughey right there."

Others brought up how good-looking Levi is and mentioned that he looks like both of his parents. One message read, "He's so handsome! A good mix of you both."

The loving father shared that his wife is usually the disciplinarian in their house. "Sometimes loving your kids means giving them just what they want," Matthew shared. "Other times, it means tough love. Affluent people can give their kids everything they want, but they're not usually going to get what they need. Loving a child is a lot harder if you really give a d*mn."

The Academy Award winner added that telling a child no "takes a lot more energy," and so, "It's a lot easier to say 'yes.'" According to Town & Country, Alves laughed when she heard him say this. 

This prompted Matthew to say: "From the snicker that my wife's giving me, it seems that I'm more consistently the yes guy. She's probably right."

Speaking with Us Weekly, Alves talked more about the energy required to raise children. “You know, it’s interesting because when you have little ones, you are physically exhausted, right? And I feel like when you get to the teenagers … it’s almost like you need more energy,” she said.

Alves added, “You need more brain power because it becomes all very about the mind, right? It’s like a teenager (is) trying to find their identity and find how they’re going to navigate their lives. So I think that … for me, it’s more challenging in a good way.”

After turning 15, Levi’s famous parents finally allowed him to join social media, and the handsome teenager is set to share some incredible insights into his personal and family life, if his first post is anything to go by.

On July 7, 2023, Levi posted an introductory video that started off with a black-and-white recording of him stating simply, “Hi, I’m Levi.” The video then cuts to photos and clips of Levi enjoying his very active lifestyle, which includes bouts of swimming, surfing, cycling and snowboarding. However, sports aren’t Levi’s only interests. The video also showed the teen cooking, holding a film camera and hanging out with his family as a voice-over of dialogue from “Dazed And Confused” played over it. He captioned the post, “happy to be here.”

Social media users were also happy to welcome Levi, but more importantly, so were his parents. They also took to Instagram to post a video welcoming their son to the “social media universe.” Matthew began by saying Alves had been “nervous” to allow Levi to take the social media step but acknowledged they had been “holding back” Levi, whose friends had all already been on it “for a long time.”

After wishing him a happy birthday, Matthew said:

“Yes, we are allowing you Levi… to join the social media universe… We’ve been preparing for this and talking about this for three years now… He knows who he is and he knows where he’s going and I think he can handle it.”

Matthew then told viewers Levi had “a great story to tell and share,” and added:

“I want to let all y'all know, you're getting a very cool and respectful young man in Levi McConaughey coming at you.”

Levi responded in kind with, “Mamma and Papai thank you!! 🙌”

What are your thoughts on Matthew McConaughey and his wife's decision to keep their son off social media until he reached 15? Let us know, and feel free to send this along to your loved ones.