When Lance Armstrong confessed in January to doping through his cycling career, his good friend Matthew McConaughey was just as shocked as the rest of the world. In the April issue of Details magazine, McConaughey shares his view on Armstrong’s scandal and also discusses the challenges he faces in his own life and career.
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“He told a lie, he’s not a liar,” the 43-year-old actor says of his fellow Austin, Texas resident. “When it came out, I took it personally, but then I realized it ain’t personal to him. I was going, ‘That son of a bitch!’ but then I thought, ‘Well, what was he supposed to do? Call me to the side and go, ‘Hey, I did this’?”
“But I’m happy for him now,” McConaughey explains, “because despite all this outside conflict, he doesn’t have this inner conflict anymore.”
The Dallas Buyers Club actor himself, however, does have his own inner conflict to battle regarding the delicate balance of work and family.
“I do have less time for friends now,” the father of three (sons Levi, 4, and Livingston, 2 months, and daughter Vida, 3) with wife Camila Alves, admits. “My close friends have had to come to understand that I can’t just throw on a backpack and say, ‘We’ll be back in four days.'”
But his wife of 9 months encourages him to pursue his career goals. “I’ve got a wife who challenges me. There were two movies I wanted to do last year, but they were back-to-back with no separation. She was like, ‘You want to do it — buck up, grab your nuts, and make it happen. We’ll be there with you.'”
For more of McConaughey’s interview, pick up the new issue of Details magazine on stands March 26.
