The Megyn Kelly Show - Matthew McConaughey on Leaving Hollywood, Raising Kids with a Strong Foundation, and the Power of Faith | Ep. 1156

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

Megyn Kelly is joined by Matthew McConaughey, author of "Poems & Prayers," to discuss raising kids that aren't entitled, working with his 17-year-old son in the new movie "The Lost Bus," fighting against nepotism, the importance of giving kids a strong foundation, his "conservative early, liberal late" philosophy, the difference between a "good man" and a "nice guy," why it's important to stand up for your values, how faith plays a big role in his life, his friendship with Woody Harrelson, why he looks up to Paul Newman, why politics "could be" in his future, the different leadership roles he's exploring, the big decisions presidents have to make, leaving Hollywood and raising kids in Texas, rebranding himself away from "the rom-com guy," losing their dads early in their lives, McConaughey choosing to go to film school over law school, the confidence he had to go after his dream of acting, and more. More from McConaughey: https://greenlights.com/ SelectQuote: Life insurance is never cheaper than it is today. Get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, and save more than fifty percent at https://selectquote.com/megynAll Family Pharmacy: Order now at https://allfamilypharmacy.com/MEGYN and save 10% with code MEGYN10Done with Debt: https://www.DoneWithDebt.com & tell them Megyn Kelly sent you!Chapter: For Free and unbiased Medicare help dial 27-MEDICARE (276-334-2273) or go to https://askchapter.org/kellyDisclaimer: Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and standalone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don't directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all your options.  Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'd never been on stage, I'd never done acting before. Um, any, any of that. Today, on the Megan Kelly Show, from small town Texas to the bright lights of Hollywood, Matthew McConaughey burst onto the scene with a line that became legend. All right, all right, all right. From Breakout Star to King of the Romantic comedies. You ever think about that night in the park? They're nice guy rolls, and nothing wrong with that.

I was so successful at him that any dramas I wanted to do, Hollywood was not awful. even if I took a huge pay cut. They're like, no, no, no, McConaughey, stay in your lane. At the height of all that fame, he walked away. I was ready to do more dramas in life. I was ready to stand up for things that I believed, didn't stand against things I didn't. There's no parachute boy, you might just written yourself a ticket out of Hollywood. Only to return to greater glory. And the Oscar goes to Matthew McConaughey. That's when I started becoming more of a good man. Redefining himself as one of the most compelling voices in film. We all got good wolves and bad wolves in us. It's our choice to which wolf we want to feed. I'm trying to do

my best to be the good wolf, knowing that the bad wolf still hungry. Today, he's here to share the lessons from that incredible ride. This is a rodeo. If you want to get into this, I'm not saying you've got a thick skin, but you've got to know what's important to you. Knives are going to come at you whether you deserve them or not. Fair has nothing to do with this. Welcome to the Megan Thank you, Kelly Show, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. We have a first-time guest on the show today, who you likely know very well, or think you do. Matthew McConaughey is an American actor and an Academy Award-winning one at that. He's also a best-selling author. He's a husband, he's a proud dad, and he's a deep thinker who is out with a new book in which he shares decades of reflections. Poems and prayers is the name of it, and it's out right now. Matthew McConaughey, welcome to the show. Kelly, good to be here. Life insurance is like a parachute. If you don't have it the first time you need it, there's no second chance. You want to get it right, the right coverage, the right price, no matter where the status of your health stands. Find the right life insurance for you

with select quote. For over 40 years, select quote has been one of the most trusted brokers in insurance, helping more than two million Americans secure hundreds of billions in coverage. Their mission is simple to find you the right insurance policy for your unique needs. They shop, you save. In as little as 15 minutes, they will compare policies from top-rated carriers to find you the best fit for your health and budget. And they work for you for free. So don't wait. Get the right life insurance for you, for less, and save more than 50% at selectquote.com slash Megan.

Save more than 50% on term life insurance at selectquote.com slash Megan today to get started. I love the book. I thought it was so thoughtful. It made me stop, reflect, and be more thoughtful about everything from faith to my own life philosophy in terms of getting after it or downshifting into a lower gear. And I didn't realize how much I had in common with you, Hollywood man, because you're really more of a Texas man who's been through a fair amount. Let me kick it off on sort of a somber note. One thing we have in common is we both lost our dads at very young ages. You, by my calculations, were 22.

I was 15. They went suddenly, thanks to heart attacks. And in both of our cases, it changed, of course, our lives, but also our life choices and our life philosophies. Can you kick it off there? Like, the you before you lost your dad and the you after. Yeah. So, I don't know about you, but I, at that time, I mean, I didn't think my dad could die.

You know, I mean, I knew practice. He had to do one day, but I thought he was the bonnetful snowman. I didn't, I didn't, it wasn't, it wasn't any lead up to it. There was no fair warning. There was no like, oh, it's times coming. It just happened and happened the way he said it was going to happen. I said, boy, when I go, I'm going to be making love to your mother. And it was a frisky Monday morning at 6 a.m.

And that's what happened. And that's how he moved on from a heart attack. It, I remember the call. And I remember my knees dropping out from my name. mother and she said your dad moved on this morning and uh it was the very unbelievable i didn't think it was possible um and then dealing with that you know going back to the wake with the brothers and the and my mom and hearing stories where you find out that oh the message maybe was a little different than the messenger which i was quickly able to forgive because i understood that to just be

reality. But the loss, just keep living. My phrase came from that because I remember when I went back to work six days later, I was on the set of days confused my very first film. And I was talking with the director of Richard Liglater at Magic Hour Sundown. We were walking around in this football stadium. I was like, you know, he's physically no longer here, but spiritually, I think I can keep calling him. I can talk to him whenever I want. I can pick up the phone. Got to keep him a spirit alive. and that's what just keep living came from added on top of that look I was scared because he left my crutch was gone he was to me what was above the law above government above religion boy if I was in a pinch and really need someone to have my back that was going to be my

dad and now that crutch is gone now that that parachute's gone and so I quickly was like okay boy talking to myself better quit acting like the things your dad taught you to do and be and start becoming the man that he taught you to be. And that's been a process that I got kick-started in right then, very hardcore, but I've tried to maintain throughout my life. Did he want you going into acting? You had just started. You weren't like the big star yet,

although days didn't confuse was a hit, but did he want you to do it? Well, this was before, and I want to say this, there's a very graceful thing in hindsight about his death. He was alive for the first five days of me shooting days confused. can come to the set or anything, but he was alive for me to start, his final son to start something that wouldn't be just a fad, that wouldn't just be a hobby, start something that became a career. I've always seen some grace in that. But the call that I had with him,

two years prior to that, while I was headed towards law school at University of Texas, and it was a Tuesday night, I planned it. I said, I'm going to call him at 7.30 p.m. It won't be Monday because there's too much stress back, getting back to work. It'll be Tuesday. End of the day, he'll be on the couch. I'm going to beer with bomb. It'll be a great time to tell him that I want to go to film school instead of law school. I made that call 7.36 p.m. and he answered. He said, what's up, monkey man? I said, hey, pop, got something I want to share with you. He said, what's that? I said, I don't want to go to law school anymore. I want to go to film school. And there's a long pause.

And I was like, oh, here it comes. He's about to go, you want to what? And he didn't. He said, you sure that's what you want to do? I said, yes, sir. Another long pause. And he said, well, don't have acid. So he gave me more than license. He gave me rocket fuel to go do it. Did he have any reason at that point to believe in you? Had you been the big star on the high school stage? No. No, I'd never been on stage.

I'd never done acting before. Any of that. I think what he heard, though, is something I think we all want to hear from our kids, is a time when they're asking us or telling us, I wasn't really asking them. I was going to do it, right? And I think he heard that. my voice the way I said, yes, sir, I didn't stutter. I didn't blink. I didn't whisper. He heard the

security of my voice that I had gone through to make this decision. And hearing that for me was I think he was like, okay, my son's asking, but he's not really asking. And I think we all want to hear that from our children at some time after we give them guidelines. But if they're going to break out of those guidelines to go their own way, don't come a bluffing. If you're going to do it, do it. And he heard that. And that's where he came up with telling me, don't have acid. But where did you get the confidence for that? Because there are millions of kids out there right now who would love to be a Hollywood star. They're from Texas. They have no connections to the industry. It's a pipe dream. It's not, odds are overwhelmingly against you. So how did you think, yeah, why not me?

Well, so I started off. I wasn't courageous or confident to say I wanted to be in front of the camera yet. But I was at that time, courageous enough to say I want to go into the storytelling business. So I went to film school, steady behind the camera. I had been writing short stories at that time. I went out a buddy of film school and said, these are really good short stories. You might be able to turn these into

moving pictures. It wasn't until a year later that I was in the right bar at the right time. I got cast and days confused and got in front of the camera and three lines turned to three weeks work. All right, all right, and I'm getting paid $320 a day and people are telling me

I'm good at it. When you please come back tomorrow and do it again? And I was like, hell yeah, I'll come back again. Is this even legal? I'm having so much fun. And you're telling me I'm good at this. I can make a living doing this. That's where I got the confidence.

And then continued on. And look, Megan, I didn't go to Hollywood and have the long story of having to wait the tables for so long. I actually went to Hollywood. And the first two auditions I went on. I actually got the job. It was Angels in the Outfield and Boys on the Side. So I had some dry spells later on in my career. But boy, when I first got out.

out there, I knocked out the first two auditions. You've got them. Well, I'm not surprised to hear that you were a writer. When I read poems and prayers, it was obvious. And the thing that's special about the book is that it's a collection of poems and prayers from back when you were a teenager. I mean, you were like 18. Yeah. And I wonder, like, I have been an avid journal keeper for most of my life, but when I occasionally pull out the ones from that period, it's awful. It's very... I know what you mean. And now you had the courage to put it down in paper and publish it.

So how does that feel, reading back on the earlier ones? So I went back and saw the earlier ones and looked, you know, even in writing green lights. Part of that was going back and like in 35 years of my journey. And I looked at some of that stuff and I was like, oh, good gosh. The shame, the guilt going on. Are you kidding me? Look at the arrogant little brick you were. Who do you think you?

But then after a while, started to chuckle at those things. And that's why I added this point, that poem in this book, which isn't. a bad point, but it's a very self-serious poem of an 18-year-old boy asking some big existential questions when you would think he would just be having a great fun time summer and under the sunshine. And I added it because it was a time. I gave it damn at 18. I still give a damn. I'm still working on trying to be a better man. I'm still questioning what's going on in the world. I'm still, you know, pointing out stuff that I think is mendacious and not fair in the world. And I'm asking those questions, and I still do. So to see that I was

doing that at 18, I'll mind you, you could tell I had a thesaurus near. I use some words in there that I'm like, you don't know what that meant. And I still don't know what that word meant. Give it a shot. I had a so surest near me, you know what I mean? But when I read the early writings, I think, this is obviously an artist. Like, this is an artistic person. It should be no surprise that this person did not wind up in law school and instead wound up in the arts, really telling stories and bringing characters to life. So it's kind of funny to me to think of you going to law school. But you talk in the book, you write the book about your previous, maybe current, commitment to logic and reason and how much that

has appealed to you for your first 55 years. But now you're kind of in a different phase. So it does make some sense. It's just not that common to see both the strong logic and reasoning thread coupled with the artistic and creative ability and Jones. So when I was in kindergarten, I was standing on the street corner outside of the school and the head principal came out, and I was, I was sitting there looking up the sky at this cloud. And I said, Mr. Mayor, is that a cloud as big as the world? And he goes, yes, Matthew, it is. So in my, whatever kindergarten, how old I was, five-year-old mine, six-year-old mom, was like,

well, if I can see the edges of that cloud, and it's as big as the world, and I know that that road trip we took from Texas to Pensacola took whatever 15 hours, and it was just that long on a map, if I can see the edge of the edge of the edge of the edge of that cloud, that cloud must be so far up than the sky that it's not even worth dreaming about. So I'm going to put my head down. Forget Air Force, I'm Army. That was went through my head I was like, you got to deal with what's right in front of you because what's out there's too far away. So for 15 years, I just put my head down and dealt. Didn't dream. You know, at 16 years old, I take my first flight, commercial flight, and in 10 seconds, I'm in the middle

of that cloud. I'm like, either this cloud goes a billion miles an hour or that cloud is not as as the world is like Mr. Mayor told me it was. Well, so I then come to learn, oh, clouds aren't that big. They're not that far away. And all of a sudden, I was like, oh, well, so what's over the horizon is actually worth considering. What's out there that you don't see right in front of me is worth dreaming about. But still, the fact that I've always dealt and looked to logic, you know, us doers, I've always been a doer. And us doers, we climb mountains.

Well, we're good climbers. But because we've got her head down, we don't always climb the right mountains. Those dreamers, you know, look up and are always kind of measuring in the landscape, which doesn't make us very good climbers, but we pick the right mountains. So doers can help dreamers, you know, climb more mountains, and dreamers can help doers climb the right ones. But I didn't start dreaming until I moved to Longview until I was about 16 years old. So something, you've made some good choices with that combination,

because I look at you and you seem to me very much like an outlier. We talked about, you know, the writing ability, which not everybody in Hollywood has. A lot of people just want to be on camera. A lot of people just want to be a star in my industry, too. Poems and Prayers is the name of the book, for those listening. So you've got writing ability. You move out to California, you get cast in the first two things that you apply for, you try out for, audition.

You become a star pretty quickly. And then unlike virtually everybody who follows that path with success, you leave Hollywood, you go back to your native Texas, you choose to raise your children there, you get married. You're in a long-term marriage. like your marriage works, which is rare in your industry. By the way, you're not the first McConaughey I've interviewed. Your lovely wife came on my show when I was at NBC.

There we go. And so all of these things suggest you're of a different mold and model than the average person out there, that you have, to me, a different value set. And I think that's embodied in your book, because what I see in here is you love America. You're a man of faith, but like most of us who are people of faith, you struggle with it. What does it mean? How far can it take me? How humble, you know, how can I humble myself in order for it to really mean something to me? You love your children. You prioritize them over your job and realize they're both important, but one is clearly the winner. So I wonder whether that's all the job of the parents and Texas. And whether you think all of this would have happened for you if you hadn't pulled up out of Hollywood and gone back home. Hmm. So the main reason I came back, one of the main reasons I came back home is I did go out there at Hollywood long enough I want to get myself established, you know, enough enough credentials to say, oh, you can't just rock my boat and I'm gone, you know, and also enough credentials where, you know, if they want me, they know where to find me. And if they want me, I will plan my roots out to Holly. would and line up meetings for two weeks and just going to knock them all out.

You know, along the way, it was also my mom's here. My brothers are here. As soon as Camilla and I decided to have children, I wanted them to be raised here near my home and around their family. I wanted them to be raised with the maybe you could say is a little more common sense values that I feel is around here where a mile feels like a mile and 60 minutes feels like an hour. It was a natural coming on for me. It was also, at that time, I was doing romantic comedies,

and I was the rom-com guy, and I love doing them. And I hope to do more later on. Wedding Planner with J-Lo, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with Kate Hudson. Hi, I'm Benjamin Barry. Andy Anderson. Oh, you are already falling in love with me. Sarah, Jessica Parker in one. Farr figured to launch, yeah.

I had a nice time. too. Good night. Good night. I was rolling in the rom-coms, successful, enjoying the heck out of them. At the same time, I was so successful at them that any dramas I wanted to do, Hollywood was not offering me, even if I took a huge pay cut. They're like, no, no, no, McConaughey, stay in your lane.

Like, okay, well, if I can't do what I want to do, I'm going to quit do what I'm doing. So moved back down here, it dropped out. You didn't see me in any rom-coms. You didn't see me shirtless on a bee. She didn't know where I was. And I knew it was going to be a bit of a desert I was walking into because I was like, I might have just wrote my one-way ticket out of Hollywood. And Camilla and I prayed on it and said, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to stick to the decision. And she goes, you know this might last a long time. You don't know, there's no parachute to pull her. You might just written yourself a ticket out of Hollywood. And I was like, yep, but it's non-negotiable. This is what I'm going to do. Well, months went by and nothing. Six months go by, nothing.

A year goes by. I talked to my age. He goes, Matthew, I haven't even heard your. name. Um, you know, luckily at this time, Camilla's pregnant and I, and we've got a first child coming on, which really anchored me to have a little significance, you know, at a time when I was feeling very wobbly without anything any work to do. 18 months go by. And I remember this, the script comes in, there's a romantic comedy, eight million dollar offer. I said, no, thank you. 10 million dollar offer. I said, no thank you. 12 million dollar offer. I said, no

thank you. 14.5 million dollar offer. I said, let me read that again. And let me tell you, it was the same words, it's the $8 million offer, but it was better. It was more well written. I could see this working for me, you know, but ultimately I said no. And I think that sent a little bit of an invisible message to Hollywood. Oh, McConaughey's not bluffing. He's on to something here. He's actually playing offense and affirmatively where he is.

And cut to four months later, all of a sudden I get the calls for the dramas that I want to do. and I just attacked them. So that was a step out of Hollywood where I needed to rebrand and unbranded, really, before I rebranded. And then when did Dallas Buyers Club come? 2013. So that's about four years, three years,

I think, into that run after the two-year hiatus. 30 day. I'm sorry. Oh, this. This is shit. Fucking 30-day motherfuckers. Let me give you all the newsflash.

There ain't nothing out there can kill fucking Ron or Woodruff in 30 days. Which led to Academy Gold. Was that before and after for you? Or like, was that actually a game changer or no? Because you'd already rejiggered and relaunched. Well, look, it was a game changer in that, hey, there is my peers saying, we deem your performance the most excellent male aid performance of the year. That meant a lot to me.

Sure as hell did. It wasn't something that I've ever been out to prove or anything, but to get that from my peers in the craft, and a lot of them who I respect, that felt really good. Now, one of the things that's funny about winning an Academy Award is that things you say afterwards, especially immediately afterwards, the things that used to be in small print are now in bold print. even if you're repeating something you said 10 years ago,

all of a sudden it's a bold print. And they're like, wow, that's original. I go, man, I've been saying that for 15 years. Now it's a bold print. But it did open up a lot of opportunities for me that I've tried to take advantage of as responsive as I could. But then here's my question for you. When Robert Downey Jr. won,

I think it was best supporting actor this past year ago, I think, if memory serves, I'm not as into it all. But I loved his opening line. which was, I'd like to thank my unhappy childhood, which is like, so good. And probably true for a lot of actors, right? Like, that's where you get all the stuff that you can draw on,

the stuff that you could put into a book like poems and prayers. But is it true for you? No. No, it's not. And, you know, I had a time where right after I called my dad and said I was going to film school, and he said, don't half-ass it.

I get it into film school. I'm a frat guy. I wear jeans and press my shirt and they're tucked in and I go see blockbuster films on the weekend. I got into film school on my GPA because at a 3.82 GPA, I didn't have a piece of art. So I get into film school and everyone's in there wearing black and they're Gothic and no one's got a tan. Here I am. I got a tan frat guy, jeans, you know, and I'm questioning. Wait a minute. Do I need to be this sort of Amlesian, you know, problems in life to be an artist, you know? And I remember we have Mondays where you'd come back to the class.

You talked about what you saw that weekend. And I'd always come back, go, hey, man, I just saw Die Hard, you know. And they'd come back and go, I saw the Eisenstein thing at the Independent, you know. Anyway, every time I'd bring up the Blockbuster, like I saw Die Hard, they'd all go, oh, that shit. That's corporate bullshit, man, it's not all right. And I'm going, oh, man, I'm getting hammered here. Maybe I'm not an artist.

And then one day I came in, one day I come in and I say the Blockbuster, it was. And actually the one I had said this day, it was diehard. And they go, oh, man, that's bullshit. And I said, hang on a second. Hang on just a second. I go, did y'all see it? And they go, well, no, no. I mean, we're just saying, you know, it's like, oh, bullshit.

No, you can't just say because it was popular. It came from a big studio and it played in a blockbuster that it's crap. I enjoyed it. And that's when I went, I'm going to keep my shirt tucked in. I'm going to keep my town staying in my frat house. I'm rolling. If I want to go spend the weekend watching Shark Nato, why should they be allowed to stop me? Come on.

It takes all different kinds of taste to keep the movie industry going. You know what's crazy? Trusting the government or some random insurance agent to give good Medicare support. That's how people could wind up stuck in the wrong plan. Get this, Trump's Department of Justice sued three major Medicare brokers for pretending to be unbiased while allegedly pushing people into the plans that got the brokers the biggest kickbacks. let's be honest here the government made a mess of medicare no one should have to untangle that mess alone this is why i want to tell you about chapter now chapter will compare every single plan

nationwide not just the ones that pay the biggest commissions and because of that they can save people an average of eleven hundred dollars a year that's real money especially in the economy that we've been dealing with for a past couple of years so whether you are brand new to medicare or you've been on it for years consider making the call and finding out more if you're already in the best plan chapter will tell you. If not, they could help you save thousands. It's free, it's fast, and in less than 20 minutes, they will review your options. Call the number 27 Medicare today. That's 27 Medicare. And finally, feel confident about your Medicare. We absolutely have to keep talking. It's more important now than ever. To cower, to hide,

to go silent is not the answer. And all I can tell you is there is no fucking way I am can one stop on this tour not one stop I'm going I'm going to stand on these stages and I'm going to say all the things that we say all the time on this show we're going to make safe for me we're going to make it safe for my team and my guests and you we're going coast to coast and do something really important which is say what's true and what's real to honor him I really now more than ever would love to see you all face to face. God, I would love to see you face to face. I need to see you face to face. I am doing this tour, and I would love for you to join me. Megan Kelly.com for the tickets.

I don't know. What do you think of that? Because there's been, I'll say, I just gave my my own complaint on it. And you saw the New York Times movie critic resigned two years ago saying, I can't, I can't with just like the nonstop action hero movies. Like, I miss. I miss drama. I miss like real crescendos and decrescendos and plots that expose human frailty. Like what happened to those movies? And you and I grew up at exactly the same time. I know you know what he's talking about and what I'm talking about. Can we get back to that? I've heard Matt Damon do a riff on this suggesting the way the studio system set up now, no. What do you think?

So here's what I've noticed happening. As we're going into streaming, like I've got this, I've got a film coming out to Lost Bus. Is there anybody that can go and pick these kids up? It is a film built for the big theater, for the big screen. We have a two-week run, limited screens in L.A., New York, and London, before we stream straight to Apple Plus. That's where it's going. And I feel like the streamers want to go, let's forget the even the two weeks. week theatrical release. It's just go straight to streaming. Now, the problem with that is that

you've seen it. Everyone sees it. You go on one of these streamers and you see this catalog of films. I don't know about you, but I'm like, when did they make that? It's one of my favorite actors. When did they make? I didn't even see it. I didn't even hear about it. So everything's kind of dropped down to a low common denominator in a library. So there's no exclusivity that you get of a precious, oh, it's come out in the theater. Oh, if we want to see that actor or actress or director's film, We have to go out on Friday night when it opens and see it. It doesn't have that as much. And I hope we can maintain that.

What's also happening is in this abbreviated attention span capacity that we talk about that people have, what studios are first cutting is the first acts of films. Now, the first act is where you set up the world for the viewer that tells you, you may know where this story goes, but you've never been there with me. so it's going to be specific. I'm going to send you up with an original show. The conflict that starts an act two, which is usually on page

38, now is on page 11. It's like, start it, meet you, hi, know what you do, bam, conflict, let's get on with it. No one wants to wait around or the studio don't believe they want to wait around for an interesting first act. It's what was so pleasurable about doing true detective.

I'll up your ass, Cole. Why'd you do your own fucking legwork, you rat fuck? Say it again, Mommy. Hey. It was an eight-part series. For three and a half hours, I get a first act, which is an actor's dream because that's where I get to go,

here's how you could go on this journey with me that you've never been in or this relationship that I have with Marty Hart. And I hope we don't keep abbreviating, getting to know characters and relationships that are specific and original. because if we do, everything's just going to feel like somewhat the same movie. I can relate to this, believe it or not, just going from cable news to podcasting. It's much the same in that, only like the reverse, right? Because the cable news, you've got to get up and down on it quickly and move on.

There's no chance to establish the character's background or fall in love with them or what have you. Just got to get, you know, what's the news, in and out? Whereas in podcasting, you can build the story. You can help the audience get to know this character before you zero in on really why they're here. Yep. Yeah. I mean, you'd know this. You just said it. I mean, and I didn't learn this for 10 years from doing press for a film or a book. You know, you going on, and I remember the first time I went on like, Leno, you know, you get four minutes up there. And I want to go, well, you know, the thing, you're already, uh-uh, zap, this is not the format for the long term. So you learn

you pick your spots about what's my message, what's my window, how do I hit it? But for people that are interested in stories, I want to, I don't ever want to lose the longer format. And will there be a rebellion back to people going, I don't want a short snippet. No, I want the longer format. I want to take the time. They can hear it on audio now. They can drive and listen to it. We're watching. Yes. They're consuming information differently, which I think will lead to a desire for more meaningful conversations. I just think it's, that's why these other models are, they have limited shelf lives. And no offense to these. superhero action movies because there's definitely an audience for those, but longer form

storytelling is still an art form that many of us thirst for and would absolutely consume with, you know, a lot of dollars. Now, in the Lost Bus, you have an interesting situation because you have your son. Your son, Levi, is starring in it, 17 years old. And I've actually, so I'm kind of drafting behind you on the childhood front because my kids are almost your kids ages. They're 15, 14, and 12. And now that they're getting to be like real humans, you know, like they're on the cusp of adulthood, I've asked myself this question about nepotism, the nepo baby. And, you know, when you're the mother of a kid who's, you know, through no fault of their own is born to you and you might be a public figure, it's hard to

it that, you know, as opposed to like, well, if my kid wanted my help getting into my industry, I'd probably give him an open door and then let him. take it and you were recently in this position. Can you tell us what happened? Yeah. And that nepotism questions are really good one because I don't want my kids to ever feel entitled at the same time. Do I believe with people in my own life outside of my family that if you want to know where the arrow is going, look at where it was shot from. So there's real practicality to that. My son, as I pitch films that I'm into my family all the time, my son comes to him and he knew that there was a role as a young boy to play my son. He says, how old is that kid? I said,

he actually, he's about 13, 14, which was Levi's age at the time. And he goes, can I read for it? And I was like, hmm, kind of just straight-faced him and walked off. I wanted to see how much he wanted it. If it was just a whim on, he comes up four more times over the next week, can I read for it? Can I read for it? Can I read for it? Can I read for it? Let me tell you what this acting thing's about. This is not just a little, hey, hey, what if? I'm going to teach you something about this. You got to revere this craft and you got to work at it. So let's work on this character right now. We'll get a read. We did. I put it on camera. I saw on cameras like, oh, he's got presents. He can hold a frame. He's being honest in front of the camera. That's good instincts. Okay. I sent it to the

casting director and I said, uh, uh, Francine, I think it's maybe good enough for callback. What do you think? And she wrote back and said, I think it's good enough to send to the director. And I said, oh, okay, will you do me a favor? Would you pull his last name off? Because I just don't want it preceding, you know, anyone's opinion to help or to help or anything. She goes, yes. Right. You don't want to send the message. I'm phoning in a favor here. Hey, you know, kind of, hey, it's playing my son. You do me a favor. I would not make that call. And I'm not going to make that call. Again, open the door. But once you get in the door, son, daughter, you go handle. But I did open a door. I had access to get his read to the cast director.

Well, the director sees it and says, that's the kid. She goes, well, that happens to be Matthew's son. He goes, even better. So he got the role. which makes, I'm very proud of, and he did it on his own merit and his own talent. Okay, but now let me ask you about part two, part two. So then he, so he stars in it. It's about to launch. And now I think at this point in the process, I haven't yet gotten there. None of my kids had said they want to go to media. I'm just saying, like, I would help them. I think I'd be living in terror of bad reviews, of nasty internet trolls. It's one thing when they come for us. Who cares? We're used to it. But come for my kid? I mean, that's the kind

I think I might toss and turn over at night. I have not toss and turned. And maybe that's because I said, get ready for it. It's going to happen anyway. I said, your last name is going to get you praise in places. Maybe you didn't deserve it. It's also going to get you slammed in places you don't deserve it. So this is a rodeo.

If you want to get into this, I'm not saying you got a thick skin, but you've got to know what's important to you. And you've got to be ready to, knives are going to come at you, whether you deserve them or not. Fair has nothing to do with this. So if you love doing the craft enough and you're good at it, you stick you, put your head down and do that. And the rest of that, you've got to have thick skin about because that's going to happen. Fair has nothing to do with this.

That's a great life lesson. In the book, you write in poems and prayers, you write, I wrote it down, your number one job is helping your kids become who they are, not who you want them to be. Shoot it into my veins. It's exactly right. So many people don't get it, Matthew. they think the kids are a due over. And you've come to the same realization that Doug and I have, which is that DNA thing has a lot to do with how they show up.

A lot more than I thought. And we just kind of fool ourselves that we're the big maestroes about where it's going. But that was the biggest surprise to me about having children. I thought it was 90-10 environment culture to DNA. And all of a sudden it's like, oh, it's closer to the opposite. Right. Yes. Totally. That's, I mean, I would imagine, especially in Hollywood, that's not a lesson everybody understands, you know, because it's a very hard charging.

Granted me to dump on Hollywood nonstop, though I'll be honest. My audience can't stand Hollywood. But it's a very hard charging group of people that have made it in a very competitive industry, like they've made it at the top. So they've got to be somewhat cutthroat. But then you have a kid, and everybody out there is probably facing a similar challenge, which is, How do I maintain my kids' competitive drive, notwithstanding the fact that they've been born into a life of luxury and privilege, et cetera, right? And, like, I don't know.

I think too many parents would default to, I'll make him a killer, as opposed to I will sit back and figure out, like, let him figure out whether he wants to be a killer. Well, you know how it is. I mean, it's, it's, there's a lot of parents, and you probably know, them as well that for my money I think become or want to be friends with their children when they need to be parents to them and that friend to their children is sometimes a bit of that do-over hey maybe you can pick up where I left off and become a better version to me which is that's not what a child's asking for early on um you know do-overs I I I think that kids want us to be

apparent to them early. Are you more traditional dad? I mean, I know you're married to a Brazilian woman, and I have a lot of Brazilian friends. I know they tend to like a more traditional man, and you're from Texas, so I kind of feel like you'd be more of a trad dad, but are you? Look, I'm more, I go, I call it,

and this is not a political term, but I call it conservative, very liberal late. I want my kids to know how to block and tackle, know your manners and graces and arithmetic and respect before we're going to go fly a freak flag, and say, whatever. So I think art emulates life. I want them to learn who they are and who they are not in life before they're going

off into imaginations. Now, you can create whoever it is you want to be, but let's have a foundation that we understand about how we act and how we treat ourselves and each other before we go off into, you know, la-la land of dreams and creation. Again, how I grew up, learned a deal before I learned a dream. And that's sort of my look at it. I believe in consequences. I believe in discipline.

I also believe that sometimes, as I'm learning right now, I did not know, Megan, that I always thought you went from father to later on a friend. And I did not know that there's a bridge in the middle there called Big Brother as a father. And I'm able to be a big brother, especially now that my kids are teens. And I can kind of put my hand on their back and maybe not judge him as quickly and go, I know what you're talking about. Let me tell you this story about when I was in high school. And the other great thing about teenage kids is I don't have to edit my good stories as much to them anymore.

Now, which period of your life are the best stories from? Oh, I mean, I've got some starting back from when I was eight. I think the best stories were probably, oh, man, every decade had a great story. I would say I could pick them out all over the place. There's things I look back at that I did when I was younger that makes me. happy to be here and alive. But there's been some great stories, which I cataloged along the way, mostly in Greenlights, and somewhat in poems and prayers. I think there's been some pretty good stories along the way. Well, you don't seem risk-averse. Both, you've outlined it, leaving Hollywood and

saying, I'm just going to do it differently. That was a huge risk. But your life philosophy as reflected in poems and prayers does not seem to favor safe spaces. It seems to favor. Take the big risks and don't die in your bed saying I never got hurt. Right. Well, that's a constant thing to measure, isn't it? Because especially after getting successful, having a family, things that I've built that I want to maintain that I'm not going to be foolish with. At the same time, I don't want to get complacent and safe and go, okay, this is it. Everyone just huddle up, put you, you know, keep everything else out. I still want to take risk. And that's also, you know, something that I know women, I'm sure they do too, but men go through

in middle age. You're at the bottom of the horseshoe. Like, are we taking the risk anymore? How do we still take a chance with the, take the right kind of risk? And I still want to take the right kind of risk, but I don't want to be foolish with what I've built, because some of the stuff I've built is non-negotiably going to be on my table and in my life until I leave this one. You know, I have that passage in poems and prayers. I'm curious, you know, is God happier if we take eight major risk in life and pull off seven of them? Or is he happy when we take 100 risk and pull off eight?

You know, it's like a little bit of that, you don't want you coming back with his money. You know what I mean? Right. I think he's saying if you didn't take enough risk, if you did, maybe that's the sin. You know what I mean? Yes. And if you didn't, it's, it's, you know, just sin come. comes from an archery term to miss the mark.

That's what the word sin comes from, to miss the mark. We miss the mark all the time. And I don't want to quit taking the chances to miss the mark. I want to hit the mark, but don't want to go out going, well, I never shot. It's even harder when you've reached your level of success, because now you do have a lot to lose. So, you know, to keep challenging yourself, to keep making yourself go out there and take the big risks, it gets even scarier, right?

It's one thing when you're up and coming is like, what the hell. Or even when you're on the middle of the ladder. But when you're the top of the ladder with all the things, a lot of people would say, I'm going to stay, I'm going to hold. Yeah, I'll hold. You don't feel that way. I hope not. Look, I've been told by many people that are close to me that my biggest asset is that I take risk.

I also think that that's what I need to take more of, that I don't take enough. So as it is. What could that look like now? What could that look like for Matthew, McConaughey at 55? Putting my cards on the table of who I am in this big movie that I'm living. That action was called the day I was born and cuts called the day I'm leaving this life. The documentary that I'm living that we're all living, putting it on and going,

and it's what I'm doing a bit up now and a civil ways to go. I'm creating characters that I believe in and want to play in my own life and saying, what are you doing live? What's happening? The camera's rolling. It's been rolling since the day of you're born. Why do you have to go off to do someone else that something else wrote and is directing and is good in cinematographer and then editing?

Get rid of those filters. What am I doing live? Who am I live in life? That's what I'm pressing myself on for the primarily for the last six years more so than any time. And I hope I'll continue to press on myself to do that. That, okay, that leads me to one of my favorite pieces in the book, which is, On page 77, it's good man. And you write as follows, there's a difference between a good man and a nice guy.

A good man stands for certain ideals. And when those beliefs are contested, a good man is not a nice guy. No. I love that. Can you talk about how you came to that realization? Yeah. So, you know, part of it, I think of the best example would be. Around that time I was doing nothing but the rom-coms, you know, those were, those are nice guy roles.

They worked, I enjoyed them. I was getting paid well. They were easy to do. They felt like a Saturday. They're nice guy roles and nothing wrong with that. But I was ready to do more dramas in life. I was ready to stand up for things that I believed, didn't stand against things I didn't in life. And I wanted to also find roles that I could do that in. That's when I started becoming more of a good man. And that means you're going to run into conflicts. That means you're going to have to go against the masses at certain times. That means you're going to have to lead when you'd rather just sit back and watch sometimes. That means you're going to have to run towards crisis and set away from it sometimes.

That means you're not going to be proper. That means you're going to receive the blades in the back. And it's okay. It's easier too. I know for me when my faith is stronger because I can sluff those things off because I'm going, no, no, no. I'm playing an immortal game here. stay that's the game i'm playing don't worry about the mortal game worry about the immortal game um

so to have the courage to do that and what you stand for and don't stand for and i always like to say this to people that are as we're finding ourselves especially young people it's harder to say oh who am i and what i want to do it's easier to go well let's define who i'm not and what i don't want to do and eliminate those people places and things and habits that we have in our life that are not paying us back. Get rid of those. And by sheer mathematics, you'll have more things in front of us that do feed us. And hey, we all got good wolves and bad wolves in us. It's our choice to which wolf we want to feed. I'm trying to do my best to feed the good wolf, knowing that the bad wolf still hungry. Okay, speaking of the wolves, the wolf of Wall Street, how fun was that role? I've got to

ask you. This is an amazing role. What can I bring for you on his glorious afternoon? Well, actor, Here's the game plan. You're going to bring us two absolute martinis. You know how I like them, straight up. And then precisely seven and one half minutes after that, you're going to bring us two more. Then two more after that, every five minutes, until one of us passes the fuck out.

Excellent strategy, sir. I'm good with water for now, though. Thank you. This is first day on Wall Street. Give him time. First time to work with Scorsese, first time to work with Leonardo. I'm getting called him for a day's way.

work. I'm a little nervous. I get there. Really? But this character, oh yeah, I always, I still get nervous no matter what I'm doing. I get nervous every single day at work, just the right amount. I want, I want to, I don't want to lose a butterfly's yet. Um, and I go in and one of the things I do, not only on that show, but on all shows is before I'll do a scene, you know, I'll start banging my chest and find some sort of tune and I'll hum it out and everything. And it's to relax myself. Um, I'll do it before interview sometimes, relax stuff. get out of my head, find the rhythm, and then come into the scene. Well, I was doing that before the scene with Leonardo Wolf of Wall Street.

But then soon as you know, action, I'd stop and we do the scene. We do the scene four times. Got it. Funny, perfect. Let's move on. Marty says, let's move on. It was Leonardo's idea. Leonardo raises hand.

He goes, hang on a second. He goes, what's that thing you're doing before every take? And I told him what I just told you to relax and get my voice down and everything. He goes, what if you did that in the, in the scene. I was like, great. And the next take is the one you see in the move. Oh, no way. Well, that's a great thing about you. You truly do have range. I mean, like, it's not every guy who can do both the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, that scene in Wolf of Wall Street,

Dallas Buyers Club, and True Detective, right? And speaking of True Detective, I got to ask, who is your best friend in Hollywood and why is it Woody Harrelson? Woody has been a great friend of mine for a long time. I mean, anytime I get younger,

anybody who spent time with Woody, he's one of the last Wild Men, a perpetual eight-year-old, has no context of time. And, I mean, he can frustrate the head. out of you. But he may show up three days late. He may show up barefoot three days late to your wedding. But you can't get mad at him because if you showed up a week late for his wedding, he don't care. So what do you always like to say, hey, even if you're going to the

Oscars, it's probably best to bring you bathing to. I can't imagine like the cast of characters that has been in and out of your life. I wondered, though, like thinking about, yes, who do you hang out with his friends? Anybody in Hollywood, like, are you friends with the Hollywood people or know your friends with the Texas people. Well, I'm friends. I've got some, I've made some very good friends in Hollywood. I mean, but also some friends that I'm still friends with people that I was friends with in college. I've made, I'm still friends with my buddy Cole Houser was just in town. He and I met on Days Confused. He's having a great time now career-wise with his role as

Rip and in Yellowstone. I know. We're developing a project together. I still talk to Rory Cochran, who I met on Days. fuse. And these are all friends in mine who were actors that I met in 1992. I've also made... Whole House was also in Goodwill Hunting, which is like crazy, that that was him. Yeah. Yeah. Young Cole Kinney, there's red with the short red fro. So I made friends along the way and met some wonderful people in the, in Hollywood as well. That remained friends. Okay, but here's, here's where I wanted to take it. Is there anyone in Hollywood who you really

admire, like whose values you admire? I'm sure you admire, admire the work of many people, but like, is Is there somebody who's living in a way that you think, yeah, that's hashtag goals right there? Well, I always looked up to a way Paul Newman led his life as a talented actor on screen, married to Joanne all that time, the only marriage throughout, the way he was able to be completely in the spotlight, but also live his own life. I always admired that. And like you, also then gave a bunch of time and money to. to charity, like didn't just rest on his little. Gave over $100 million to charity, thanks to Paul, him and Fran. And made that, that was a part of his life.

That was on his proverbial desk every Monday morning in his life. He made that a part of his life. And that was his choice. You know, people always go, yeah, but you've succeeded. You have the responsibility. I don't, I think that's an easy place to go. Don't go to responsibility. If you got the chance, you have the choice and the ability.

But choices give us a lot more ownership than saying, oh, it's his responsibility. I ought to do it. But he did. He did. So I've looked up to his life. You know, I learned something, though, from some people, and I won't say their names. They were elder men in the business. And this is when we first had, Camilla and I first had children. And I said to them, they had children. And I said to them, hey, you know, you go on the road. You go to on set for three months, five months, whatever. Do you take your family and your kids with you? And they said this version of this, look, it's either their friends or their dad. And all of them that I talked to said they chose to let their kids stay back

and have their lives and their schools and be with their friends and not come to work with that. And all of them said, if I could do it again, I'd have made them come with and she used to be with dad. And so when Camille and I had kids, before she pulled the goalie, She said, if we're going to do this, one condition, you go, we go. And so it's been a real privilege for me as a father and a husband and the head of the family that anytime I go to work, the family comes with. And that's been a major sacrifice for Camilla, but one that she would openly say it reaps more rewards than it does deficits. And it is getting harder now.

And you're seeing this with your kids getting older. It's getting harder because they're older. They have social sort of circles and rhythms and teams. They're apart. And I don't know what I'm going to do the next time. You know, this last one, I just did what I could to get it to shoot in my hometown of Austin because I didn't want to take them away to another. You've got to cast more the kids.

More the kids need to go into the next movie. That's it. Pass more the kids and shoot more down the road. The flu does not wait and neither should you. When sickness hits, you don't want to be scrambling for medication. You want to be ready. You want peace of mind knowing your family is protected. And that's where all family pharmacy comes in. These guys make it simple to stock up before you need it. So when the flu or a virus or any illness comes, you already have the treatments on hand. Right now, Ivermectin and Mabendazone are 25% off, starting at just

two bucks a capsule. Plus, save another 10% with code Megan 10. They've got over 200 medications to choose from, antibiotics, hydroxychloroquine, antivirals, NAD plus, methylene blue, and more. They even offer emergency kits with essential medications so you're prepared for anything. Just order online. They connect you with licensed doctors to get your prescriptions and ship your medications straight to your door. It's so convenient. Go to allfamily pharmacy.com slash Megan and use code Megan 10. Again, that's allfamilyfarmacy.com. slash Megan. Use the code Megan 10 to get your discount when you check out. Protect your family. Be prepared and stay safe. When you are buried in credit card and loan debt, it's human nature to put it off

and say, I'm going to deal with that later. I don't want to touch that right now. If that's you, here's something you need to know. Done with debt discovered a little known strategy that works in your favor to dramatically reduce or even erase your debt altogether. They can aggressively engage everyone you owe money to in September, and here's why. They know which lenders and credit card companies are doing year-end accounting and need to cut deals. They even know which ones have year-end audits and need to get your debt off of their books. So consider getting started done with debt right now this fall. Done with debt accomplishes this without bankruptcy or new loans. In fact, most clients end up with more money in their pocket the first month. Get started now while

you still have time, go to done withdebt.com and speak with one of their specialists for free. Visit donewithdebt.com, done withdeat.com. We absolutely have to keep talking. It's more important now than ever. This fall, Megan Kelly is taking her show live to cities nationwide. To go silent is not the answer. I'm going. I'm going to stand on these stages and I'm going to say all the things that we say all the time on this show. We're going to make it safe for me. We're going to make it safe for my team and my guests and you

and do something really important, which is say what's true and what's real. And I would love for you to join me. Megan Kelly.com for the tickets. You can stream the Megan Kelly show on Series XM at home or anywhere you are. No car required. I do it all the time.

I love the Serious XM app. It has ad-free music, coverage of every major sport, comedy talk, podcasts, and more. Subscribe now. get your first three months for free. Go to SiriusXM.com slash MK Show to subscribe and get three months free. That's SiriusXM.com slash MK Show and get three months free.

Offer details apply. I understand your quandary completely. And it's like the other thing is as they get more into the teenage years, the friends do become more important. And I was told by a very smart guy, do not, do not Dr. Leonard Sachs. do not bring kids friends on family vacations. The family vacations, the family outies are for you, for you five, not for you five plus their three friends.

If you bring the friend, your kid's going to be talking to the friend at dinner and at breakfast and at lunch. And like that's your time. It's like to bond. But now as they get older and the friends, but I'm going to, I'm going to hold to it. And you should hold to it too. Like, that's the time for bonding. Working on it.

We had this last night. Look, it was first day of NFL football. all Sunday and Austin FC our local soccer team that I'm part owner him was playing it was getting close to time go to bed and then we wanted to eat dinner and it was like oh well let's keep the game on and we said no let's turn that off and soon as we turned it off you can tell that it wasn't like anyone was missing out that much but all of a sudden we had an hour and a half where it's just us the five of us and we caught up on everyone on the last week and everyone started swat up his stories about this week and boys and girls in school.

And it wouldn't happen unless we turned that tube off. Yep. We had a blackout on Saturday here where we live. There was like a weird storm that came through. It was like a monsoon that just came and parked over our neighborhood. And it was great because, well, what happened was all the power went out. And I said, oh, my God, wait a minute. We got a generator.

We're good. And the generator kicked in. I was like, this is amazing. What a luxury. And then the generator died. That's its one job. Candles. It's your one, yeah, but I mean like it's like being an actor.

Like you're the understudy on a Broadway show and the stars out. There's your big chance and you're like, I can't do it. That's what happened to my generator. Anyway, we sat, we wound up playing a trivial pursuit with the kids. It was so fun. You know, it's like you don't do that that often anymore. It was like, such a good time. You know what I hear, if you heard this, I don't know what you do with your kids in social media.

And we don't, we've allowed to Levi when you turn 15 to dabble on the grand. and such, and the other kids not yet. But all their friends have it, the TikToks and Instagrams and everything. But I've talked to them and their friends. And I've said, so if you could choose if socials were just not available to anyone, or it is as it is now, what would you choose? Every kid, even the ones that have the TikTok, they're like, oh, if I have to be on it, but if it wasn't available, oh, I'd take that.

Yep. Very interesting. They're all saying, I mean, I have to, I feel like I have to be on it to stay socially current, but if it was an option for it not to be available, oh, please. Well, look how we grew up. Look, I mean, like, look how we were in the 70s and the 80s. We didn't have any of that.

Like, you ran around, your parents didn't know where you were. You spent your day with your friends. You had to come home when the street light went on. That was it. You didn't have to worry about, and bullying was like the old-fashioned style. If it didn't happen while you're in school, it wasn't going to happen. They couldn't get you at all hours of the day, you know, like on a little device that's in your pocket. It's very complicated for these kids, but I do think they get more sophisticated earlier.

And they're going to need these skills at some point to navigate the future that's coming, you know, like AI and everything's online. It's like we're a bunch of dinosaurs, our generation. I know. I'm trying to navigate not being a dinosaur, but still holding on to the traditional things that will never go out of style. You're still thinking about, like, values. You're writing about values and existential thoughts. I don't think those are going to go out of style. You know, I hope they don't. And I think we need to fight for them because I think they stand the test of time of any weather.

And then when I hear these AI sort of atheists say that, oh, AI doesn't need to be what's best for humanity. It's just the next link in evolution. And we'll create machines and a digital God that'll make us extinct. And that'll be great. I'm like, I'm not ready to go there yet either. No, sir. No, please. Well, I mean, it's got to be scary as an act.

You know, Justine Bateman has come on this show talking about how dangerous it is to the whole acting industry that these roles, I mean, and even your voice could be repeated exactly by AI. You know, I could be like, and Matthew McConaughey is the new voice of the Megan Kelly show. Here's Megan. And you'd have nothing to do with it. And it would be lawful. Yep. You know, I've been one of the earlier ones to trademark and patent, my voice and likeness. on a federal level and we'll see where that holds up if and when it needs to.

But it is, it is, it is something that is scary because we're not that far from someone being in India tonight and saying, well, I want Megan Kelly and Matthew McConaughey here and I want Megan from 2014 and I want Matthew from Days Confused and I want to be here at the party. And we're going to hologram them in right here and there, we're hosting it. We're not that far away from that. There's some wonderful things that you can do with it. I'm doing it with the newsletter, speaking, trading it in different languages where I, my voice is sharing.

It's my voice reading in Spanish and Portuguese and French and German. You know? That's very cool. So there's wonderful things to be done with it. But it is, we'll see. Yeah, we're going to see if we can go out. I don't think you and I will see directly. I think we might have, we'll probably transition over to the other world

with our dads. Do you think we're on the other side of it? I do. I think so. I think it's made our kids' problems. So, like, we have to worry about it a little, but I think they're smart enough to handle it. I want to get to this one.

Yeah, you go. What do you think if you, your children, forgetting what they're in, what they like right now, but if they were going to college, what degree do you think in a university do you think will prepare them for what's going to be most necessary

in the job market later? No, nothing. There isn't one. there's nothing. I mean, really, frankly, they don't need to go to college. I want them to go to college to have fun. It's an additional four years where you can mature a little and have a good time and home, your social skills, which is important. But in my view, it's not about learning or preparing for life, unless you're going to med school where you actually do have to learn a few things. I just don't think that's what it's for. So I just say get a classic liberal arts education. Like all the sciences that are exploited, like I feel like those are in serious danger thanks to AI. Math and science are being quickly taken over by the computers. So, yeah. So I almost feel like the dreamers are becoming more and more important. So don't do anything to kill your spirit.

Don't overwhelm yourself with, like, too much dogma from anybody in particular and keep your hope alive. That's what you're going to need on the back end of those four years. But I think you can learn whatever you want to learn in college on the Internet. You can learn it from this conversation, from podcasts, whatever. So I don't know. I just don't think it's about that. I think it's about like maintaining your integrity, learn how to be a good person, don't be just an SAT score, learn the skills that'll make you an actual leader who can make good decisions in tough situations, no matter what they are, as opposed to like this formula or that. That's how I look at it. You might be right. I like, I like your point of view on it.

And also, who the hell knows where it's going to go? So why waste too much time thinking about it? All right. Now, listen, I got to read this one. This is you on page 44 of poems and prayers. the latest book by Matthew McCona, which everybody should read. It's actually made a great present in particular. I think this would be a very nice gift for somebody around Christmas time. You can buy it now. You can buy a couple copies. Here it is. Covet nothing, but your superior self. Seek transformation over transaction. Individuality over conformity. Recognize your inadequacies. Then make one step at a time in the right direction and endure. It will be harder than you think. because your long road has no arrival until you die. I love this so much.

Covet nothing but your superior self is exactly, I mean, you could read nothing other than that line on page 44, and you would be a better person if you could just remind yourself of that every morning. I always say this. This is actually from Dr. Phil, but it's a great saying. The only difference between you and someone you envy is you settled for less. So when you covet, when you feel envy, when you look at somebody's life and you say, I want it or I begrudge them for having it, it's exactly the wrong focus.

It's a tell to you to focus back on what is it about me I'm unhappy with. And how can I change it? That's exactly what you're saying there. Do you, like, I don't, how do you teach that? Can you teach that? Well, so much. of our consumerism and all those social feeds that our kids are inundated with are all about comparison and not living up to and coveting something that someone else has because they're

telling you it's the right way or more popular or what um i don't know i think to teach that there's it's all mark everyone's marketing all this stuff marketing's bullshit just can you read through and ask yourself, what do I really want? Who am I not? To have a foundation? Again, I don't know if you can teach anyone out of it now, but can you have someone deal? How can you help children deal with the foundation of who they are

so they're not getting schooled so they can use that tool and these tools to do the schooling? That's why you take the family with you. Right. Play your game in that business. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't let that, that game become your business because then you're just going to get dizzy and it changes so quickly. And you look back and all your friends you thought you had and everything you thought you could rely on is poof, it was, it was fairy dust. So if you can sit there and go, okay, because I don't want to say, don't ever go on social media.

Oh, don't go on AI. No, go, you need to check this out. We've got to educate ourselves here. But let's read through the BS here and see that the algorithm selling something to make some of this, okay? At your be, at your expense, know that it's a game. Just know that to tell my, we try to tell our children that. And so just to be aware that, no, that's not real. That's, that's commerce. There's an algorithm selling that and putting in front of you what it, what it thinks you want because of your traffic and your history of where you've already been. Just to understand that that's happening. That's part of the game. You want to play it? Just be aware that that's the rules. Mm-hmm. So you have a good handle on these problems and societal ills. I can hear it. And the U of July of 2024 considered doing something about it in the form of possibly running for Texas governor. Didn't happen. Your team did not want me to get into politics. But I just wanted to finish with who exactly did you vote for in the 2024 presidential election and what? No, just kidding. Just kidding. But is politics potentially? still part of your future, your story?

I don't know. Could be. It's something, look, I've, the last six years been studying different categories of where I could be most useful, what leadership roles. Am I equipped for? Look, it's inherently not my language. I'm more of a poet philosopher.

And I'm dealing with values here, which I believe, and belief, which I believe are true progress above the political sphere of left and right battling. That's the space that I'm in now. I am aware that the issues matter, that politics and legislation all matters. So I have not canceled it out, but I've given it and still will continue to give it

some real consideration to measure myself. That's the right place where I can be the most useful. But I'm not going to bend my back to force myself. myself in it. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'll get in deep enough where if I'm in it, I'll look up and I won't be able to help it. It'll be, it'll just be there. I will be pulled in. Um, but, um, you know, it's a very conscientious headspace to ask yourself. And I think it's something important if we all to ask her, what if I was the leader of a state of a nation of a war? It's a great question to ask for it. So, because you, you call yourself on some of your bullshit, go, what decision

would I make? What are my own beliefs? And where do they transfer to what I would believe for the masses. Now, we all know in politics, they're not all doing what they believe, but they're doing. And I would not want to go being anything where I would need to betray myself. And there's a lot of betrayal that comes with inherently in politics. And I work hard enough to try and get a good night's sleep, trying to win the fair games and fair fights, which are already hard to win. And so for right now, I got my three kids, want to get them out of the house. as healthy as possible and hopefully as much individuals as they are possible. And then when that opens up after me being on-site father that I am and try to be, I will be open to considering what my

next avenues are. I love it. I've said about President Trump, you know, he's under a lot of pressure when it comes to his foreign policy decisions in particular from different factions. And I've said repeatedly on the air, on something like that, whether you're going to add to a war and the weaponry of it, whether you're going to start a war, whether you're going to push to, you know, end one, start one. He has to come to his own decision. Like that, that is playing with people's lives, and he knows that. Whoever the president is, they deserve a wide berth in coming to their own decision about what to do, because it's easy for you or me or anybody else sitting in their armchair to say, this is how it should be. We're not actually going to be responsible for ending

lives, like the president. And those calls, massively responsible. And those. And those Those calls, correct from wrong, those are the president's soul calls, 4 a.m. by yourself, in solitude calls. Are they now? Yeah. Yeah. That's scary. Like, that's the highest order. You better have your spiritual ducks in a row. And what may help you is this book, Poems and Prayers by Matthew McConaughey, which will rejigger your headspace around your life, what matters in it, and what your daily approach to it should be, as you say. playing this long game, starring in your own movie that starred for a couple of us about 55 years ago. Not quite. I'm not quite there. Almost. I'm right behind you. It's been a pleasure. I wish you all the best with this, with the Lost Bus, the movie with your son, and with all of it. Thank you, Megan Kelly. I sure enjoyed it. Love, love, love talking to Matthew. Let me know what you think. Email me, Megan, M-E-G-Y-N at megankelly.com. We're back tomorrow.

with the EJ's. Yes, Eliana is back. We're very excited to see her, and we'll see all of you then, too. Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.