Matthew McConaughey says he took eight-year break from mom after she leaked stories to press

Matthew McConaughey had to stop talking to his mother after he realized she could not respect his privacy.

In a recent interview with People, the Dallas Buyers Club actor said he spent almost an entire decade barely speaking to his mother, Mary Kathleen “Kay” McConaughey, because she would reveal information about him to the media.

“We had about an eight-year period where I had to have short conversations with her on our Sunday phone calls because she was sharing a lot of that information,” he told the publication. “I’d tell her something on Sunday between son and mom, and Tuesday I’d read about it in the news or see it in the local paper. She couldn’t help herself.”

Kay had referred to that time period as a “hiatus,” but eventually Matthew became comfortable enough to no longer care about what his mother might say.

“About eight years after that, I got stable enough with my own position and fame that I was like, ‘You know what? My mom can say whatever the hell she wants,’” he said. “It’s much more fun now... I’d say we’re closer now.”

The two have become so close that, currently, Kay and Matthew, in addition to Matthew’s 17-year-old son, Levi, are starring in the upcoming Apple TV+ film, The Lost Bus, which follows the story of the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history.

Matthew’s comments came around the same time he shared a key piece of advice for maintaining his 13-year marriage with his wife, Camila Alves.

In the actor’s latest book, Poems & Prayers, he wrote a poem explaining how a smaller bed can be an asset to a couple’s relationship.

“The best thing you can / do for your / marriage,” the poem read. “One way to surely / get ahead, / is get rid of that / king-­size mattress, / and sleep in a / queen-­size bed.”

Speaking to Fox News Digital in an interview published last week, the Academy Award winner elaborated: “We have kids and we go to our friend's house and he has one of these double king-size beds put together and all the kids sleep in the bed.

“The wife's on one side with her side table and the husband's on the other side and it's great when you got all three kids, but all of a sudden the kids get too big,” he said. “They're out of the bed.”

“I wake up one morning … I'm looking over there and Camila's like a football field away man. Then you go to bed at night, like you want to snuggle up and … ‘Well, we’ve got to cover you up. Come about 12 feet and I'll come 12 feet.’”

He continued: “You're like, man, this damn king-size bed is not good for the marriage, man. Get rid of that son of a b****. So we got a queen size where we're shoulder to shoulder. I'm telling you, it's good for your marriage.”