Matthew McConaughey has never been the one to hold back, but he’s keeping it all the way real in his new memoir Greenlights. While dishin’ on family life, his aspirations of becoming a dad, and living life in a pandemic, he revealed a shocking detail about the passing of his father, James Donald McConaughey, in an exclusive excerpt from his book obtained by People.
“I got a call from my Mom. ‘Your dad died.’ My knees buckled. I couldn’t believe it. He was my dad. Nobody or nothing could kill him. Except mom. He’d always told me and my brothers, ‘Boys, when I go, I’m gonna be makin’ love to your mother.’ And that’s what happened. He had a heart attack when he climaxed.”
Explaining the meaning of Greenlights as to “proceed, move forward, affirm, greenlight and go,” he refers to his dad’s self-fulfilling death— although a bit unorthodox—as a “major red light” that turned green with the positive impact he left on his life.
“Being a dad was always my only dream. … I can’t think of anything being more important,” he told People, sharing that he has aspired to be a father since he was 8 years old. He shares Levi, 12, Vida, 10, and Livingston, 8, with his wife Camila, who he married in 2012.