“Ritual Came Back”: Matthew McConaughey Opens Up About His Decision To Leave California For Texas

Matthew McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves, have recently opened up about their decision to leave their home in Malibu, California, to settle down permanent roots in Austin, Texas.

“We were living a happy life in Malibu,” says Camila, who met Matthew in 2006 in a West Hollywood nightclub. 

“We had a beautiful house that we’d built together and put a lot of love and care into. We were raising our kids there. I was growing everything in the yard. I had bees making honey.”

However, things took a turn when the married couple of nearly 12 years visited Austin for several weeks amid a family crisis involving McConaughey’s mother and two brothers, who needed their help.

Matthew McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves, have revealed the exact moment they decided to leave Malibu, California, to relocate to Austin, Texas

Image credits: southernlivingmag

During those weeks, Camila noticed something different about her husband. According to her, the 54-year-old actor’s home state gave him a different “gravity” compared to their lavish California lifestyle. 

The exact moment they decided to leave their California home behind occurred while stopped at a red light, the couple recalls.

The Interstellar actor says Camila “blurted out” the question that had been inside their minds throughout their trip: “You want to move here, don’t you?”

The couple visited Matthew’s home state during a family crisis that involved the actor’s family

Image credits: officiallymcconaughey

The pair, who share children Levi, 15, Vida, 14, and Livingston, 11, made the move in 2014, and they haven’t looked back on their life-changing decision since.

“Ritual came back, whether that was Sunday church, sports, dinner together as a family every night, or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen, sitting at the island pouring drinks, and nibbling while retelling them all in different ways than we told them before,” Matthew reflects.

Additionally, the Dallas Buyers Club star admits that life outside of Hollywood has brought along a slower-paced, more serene routine for the family.

“Time slowed down. The clock was right, the body clock. And part of that is ritual; part of that is just the distance between places and the way people move.

“But it’s also the hospitality, the courtesy, the common sense, the lack of drama.”

While stopped at a red light, Camila “blurted” out, “You want to move here, don’t you?”

Image credits: camilamcconaughey

The actor also holds the belief that the closer people are to their conception site, the more connected they are to their authentic selves. 

To be “full-blown shaking hands with where you were conceived,” he explains to Southern Living, is to be hooked into your original essence.

“Wouldn’t it be interesting to take people back to where they were conceived and have them spend a month?

“And then you could ask: How is your life? How are your thoughts? How is your creativity? How do you feel?”

His current home is roughly 2 miles from Fort Davis, where, in early 1969, Kay and Jim McConaughey conceived him.

“Ritual came back, whether that was Sunday church, sports, dinner together as a family every night, or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen,” Matthew says

Image credits: officiallymcconaughey

Camila, who’s an entrepreneur, author, and founder of the lifestyle website Women of Today, initially found it challenging to adapt to life in Texas. Over time, however, she found several similarities with her birthplace in Itambacuri, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

“We grew up saying ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘No, sir’ or — as I should say — ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘Yes, sir.’ It takes me right back to how I was raised,” she explains.

Camila says she noted cultural similarities between the Lone Star State and her birthplace in Itambacuri, Brazil

Image credits: camilamcconaughey

Matthew and Camila, who have just embarked upon a journey to market their own tequila brand, Pantalones, are among the many celebrities opting to raise their families away from the Hollywood glam. 

Irish star Cillian Murphy, who received an Academy Award nomination for his role in Oppenheimer, moved from London to Monkstown, in south county Dublin, with his family in 2015, and he says the decision was “the best thing [they] did.”

Furthermore, that same year, Chris Hemsworth left Los Angeles and relocated with his wife, Elsa Pataky, and their three children to the town of Byron Bay, which has a population of less than 10,000, in Australia. 

“They are a stunning and grounded couple,” someone wrote

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