Growing up with celebrity parents might make some kids feel spoiled, entitled, or worse, but Matthew McConaughey is doing his best to keep his kids grounded. The actor shares kids Levi, 17, Vida, 15, and Livingston, 12, with wife Camila Alves. While society might call them nepo babies, McConaughey is doing his best to teach them the value of hard work.
Recently, Levi nailed a huge part in McConaughey’s upcoming movie, The Lost Bus, which he got on his own merit. The Interstellar star recently chatted about the experience in an interview on Sunday Today with Willie Geist, per Us Weekly.
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“I’m not putting that pressure on him either way. But he’s off to a great start, and he’s in the door,” McConaughey said. “As far as nepotism goes for me, Camila and I always say, ‘Don’t you ever feel entitled.’”
Levi read for the role of McConaughey’s son in the film, and the actor asked the casting director to “pull his last name” when the audition was sent to the director Paul Greengrass. Because he didn’t want “McConaughey” to influence the Greengrass’s decision. Levi nailed the part on his own, and the family had “a big celebration.”
However, it wasn’t easy street from there. McConaughey revealed the words he told his son before their first day on set. “I said, ‘I can help coach you, I can help teach you what I can, but once we show up on the day, I’m not there as a safety net,’” McConaughey recalled. “And he showed up. He was not looking at me like, ‘Hey, is it OK?’ Uh-uh. He worked with the director, and I sat back as a proud dad going, ‘There we go!’”
It’s a family affair as McConaughey’s mom Kay, 93, plays his mother on the film. “There was an extra sort of soul to it for me,” he said, adding, “It felt very professional doing it with [Levi], though.”
It’s all part of McConaughey’s and Alves’ efforts to raise good kids. In a May interview with PEOPLE, Alves shared one of the couple’s strategies as parents.
“We’ve been doing the [just keep living] foundation since Levi was born, so they’ve been seeing what we do throughout their whole lives,” Alves said about the foundation she co-founded with McConaughey to empower high school students. “And we get them as active as much as they can, but we also do a lot of things with them with other organizations,” Alves continued. “So Meals on Wheels Thanksgiving is part of our Thanksgiving routine where we get over there and do the new deliveries. Any country we go to, any location we go to work, we always end up doing some form of charity things.”
She added, “Honestly, we all know as parents, you can only do your best. Kids are going to do what they’re going to do. But we can try our best. So I’m hoping that because they grew up with this hands-on experience of giving back, of doing community work, that they will carry that on.”
These celebrity kids want to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
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