Matthew McConaughey thinks Woody Harrelson could be his real brother

Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey might have more in common than just a season of True Detective and a southern drawl.

The two actors, who have been good friends for years, have their suspicions that they might be biological brothers - and they have the evidence.

Matthew explained the theory in a recent interview ahead of he and Woody's new Apply TV+ comedy Brother from Another Mother - which is a little on the nose, wouldn't you say?

HBO

"You know, where I start and where he ends, and where he starts and I end, has always been like a murky line. And that’s part of our bromance, right?" Matthew told the Let's Talk Off Camera podcast.

"My kids call him Uncle Woody. His kids call me Uncle Matthew. And you see pictures of us and my family thinks a lot of pictures of him are me. His family thinks a lot of pictures of me are him."

Okay, so they look quite similar and they're called 'uncle' by each other's kids - but surely that's all a coincidence?

Matthew doesn't think so.

"In Greece a few years ago, we’re sitting around talking about how close we are and our families.

"And my mom is there, and she says, ‘Woody, I knew your dad.’ Everyone was aware of the ellipses that my mom left after ‘knew’. It was a loaded K-N-E-W."

The comment sparked Matthew's curiosity. How could it not? What if your best pal turned out to be your biological brother?

The Dallas Buyers Club star suspected that his mum might have had a fling with Woody's father, resulting in baby Matthew.

And so, he started digging.

Matthew McConaughey

"We went on to unpack what this ‘knew’ meant and did some math and found out that [Woody Harrelson's] dad was on furlough at the same time that my mom and dad were in their second divorce.

“Then there’s possible receipts and places out in West Texas where there might have been a gathering, or a meeting, or a ‘knew’ moment."

The evidence is compelling, but the two actors don't have a definite answer just yet - and they haven't brought themselves to do a DNA test just yet.

"Look, it’s a little easier for Woody to say, ‘Come on, let’s do [DNA tests],’ because what’s the skin in it for him?” Matthew explained.

"It’s a little harder for me because he’s asking me to take a chance to go, 'Wait a minute, you’re trying to tell me my dad may not be my dad after 53 years of believing that?' I got a little more skin in the game."

AFF/Alamy Stock Photo

Matthew has been very open about his parents and their rocky relationship in the past - particularly in his 2020 book Greenlights.

In the memoir, he spoke about their passionate, but very dramatic relationship, in which they married three times and divorced twice.

The actor's father passed away in August 1992 of a heart attack - which he supposedly suffered just after having sex with McConaughey's mother.

Meanwhile, Woody Harrelson's dad, Charles, was an alleged hitman who died behind bars in 2007.