Matthew McConaughey has written an unusual memoir, and he sat down with USA Today to discuss the journey to get there. The Oscar winner says that he didn’t intend for Greenlights to be a memoir, per se.
He says he went through journals, and started writing in the cabin he was conceived in. “I remember writing this down: 'The words on this page need to be worthy of being signed by anonymous but also be words that only I could have written,'” he says. “And that was sort of my North Star of what I wanted it to be.”
Greenlights also, like McConaughey himself, he says, looks back to look forward: “go — advance, carry on, continue,” he tells USA. “I had been threatening, daring myself to go open my treasure chest of diaries for the past 15 years but never had the courage to do it.”
The 50-year-old continues: “I was always intrigued by being the head investigator and head interrogator on who I am and what is life about? And what am I doing in it? And then that led to what are we doing in it? What is it all about? Where do we put value? What matters to us and when?”
He says that he hopes his honesty will liberate others: “It's quite freeing. I haven't made straight As in life the whole way through, and I'm glad. I've made some Cs — I've probably learned the most when I made the Cs.”
Looking back at age 50, he says he has a new perspective on his parents, who divorced and married each other three times.
He says: “I did a huge amount of laughing with myself when writing, I did a huge amount of crying — most of my tears came from being able to go back and feel the love that my family had that my mom and dad had for each other, that they had for us.”
If he can get one final word in on his life, he tells USA: “He was at home in the world. Loved being a father — had the most reverence for fatherhood — incredible reverence for fatherhood — believes that that's the greatest job for a man in the world. And if God loves a trier, then he loves you McConaughey, because you sure tried.”
Greenlights is out now.