Camila Alves says Matthew McConaughey’s mom was “really testing” her when she began dating him

Camila Alves McConaughey explains that while she has “the most amazing relationship” with Matthew McConaughey‘s mom, Mary Kathleen McCabe, things weren’t always all right, all right, all right.

In a conversation on Southern Living‘s Biscuits & Jam podcast, Camila revealed, “[W]hen I first came in the picture…she was really testing me. I mean, really testing me. She would call me by all of Matthew’s ex-girlfriends’ names, she would start speaking Spanish with me in a very broken way, kind of putting down a bit. I mean, all kinds of stuff.”

Camila then decided to take her future mother-in-law with her on a modeling shoot in Istanbul. “The whole way there…she was…putting all these things in my head. Enough that, when we landed, I was like, ‘Okay, all right. Let me buckle up. Let me get ready for this situation.'”

By the third day, Camila says Mary confided in her about a certain private matter and broke down crying.

“And I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ You know, ‘Ma Mac!’ and feeling so sorry. And as I put her to bed, I look at her and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh. She’s full of s***,'” Alves recalls, laughing.

“So I just flip it on her and brought my spicy Brazilian, Latin side, and I let her have it. So I went back at
her, and we had it back and forth, back and forth. And then at the end, she just looked at me and she
was like, ‘Okay. Now you’re in,'” Alves laughs.

“All she wanted was for me to fight back. And then from that…night on, we have the most amazing relationship…,” adding with a laugh that it can “get tricky sometimes…But we always end with a good laugh and a joke.”