Woody Harrelson says he and Matthew McConaughey are brothers, says rumours ‘very much true’

Woody Harrelson says it’s “very much true” he is Matthew McConaughey’s brother. Photo / Getty Images

This article was one of Herald Entertainment’s best-read stories of 2023 and was published in May.

Woody Harrelson says it’s “very much true” he is Matthew McConaughey’s brother.

The Natural Born Killers actor, 61, earlier this month called on McConaughey, 53, to get a DNA test after backing up his belief they could be biological brothers, and has now doubled down on the claim by saying he is convinced of the fact due to similarities in their personalities.

Harrelson told the new issue of Esquire magazine: “Well, it’s very much true. I learned from Ma Mac, Matthew’s mother, that she did have a relationship with my father for a relatively short period of time that coincided with the time that his father and mother were on a sabbatical, and with the time of Matthew’s, let’s say, origination.

“We haven’t done a test, but there are too many times that I think to myself, My God, the similarities! The things he does, the things he says - just the way he is. I’ve felt that for years.”

During an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert earlier this month, Harrelson urged McConaughey to have a DNA test done.

He said he understood his fellow actor’s apprehension about how it may lead to him “losing” a father, but said it could also mean he would gain a brother and a different dad.

“The year of Matthew’s birth, nine months before, she was on a sabbatical from her relationship with his supposed father, Jim.” Photo / Getty Images

Harrelson added: “Well, I’ll just say there is some veracity to that thought because we talked to Ma’ Mac, Matthew’s legitimate mother, and she let us know one time ... I mean, this is crazy ... we were in Greece watching the US team win the World Cup and I don’t know, I mentioned something about regrets.” And I said, ‘You know, it’s odd that my father has no regrets.’ And I have known Ma’ Mac a long time, and she goes, ‘I knew ... your father.’

“And it was the ellipses I found a little troubling, or interesting: ‘I knew your father’.”

Harrelson described the “ellipses” as part of a talk that was “filled with innuendo”, adding: “The year of Matthew’s birth, nine months before, she was on a sabbatical from her relationship with his supposed father, Jim.”

McConaughey had previously shared his suspicions that his mother Mary had a sexual encounter with Harrelson’s hitman father Charles after she made a cryptic remark about knowing the late convict.

Harrelson’s dad died behind bars after a life of crime, which saw him working as a professional hitman for a Texan drug lord.

He spent most of his life behind bars and vanished from Harrelson’s life in 1968 when the future actor was seven years old.

This article was originally published on May 3, 2023