Woody Harrelson, 61, recently spoke about the intriguing possibility that he and Matthew McConaughey, 53, could be biological brothers during an appearance on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Woody, alongside his White Plumbers co-star Justin Theroux, revealed that the idea first came to him during a conversation with McConaughey's mother, Mary Kathlene McCabe.
The actors were in Greece when he mentioned how his father had no regrets, prompting Kathlene to say: "I knew… your father."
Woody found the pause in her statement intriguing and later discovered that she was on a break from her relationship with Matthew's supposed father, Jim, nine months before his birth.
The actor shared his thoughts on the Late Show, saying: "Well, I’ll just say there is some veracity to that thought because we talked to Ma’ Mac, Matthew’s legitimate mother, and she let us know one time…
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“I mean, this is crazy. We were in Greece watching the U.S. team win the World Cup, and I don’t know, I mentioned something about regrets. And I said, 'You know, it’s odd that my father has no regrets.'
“And I have known Ma' Mac a long time, and she goes, 'I knew… your father.' And it was the ellipses I found a little troubling, or interesting. 'I knew your father.'"
While the Yellowstone star has been hesitant to take a DNA test, Woody is keen to find out the truth.
He said: "We want to go for a [DNA] test, but for him, it’s a much more big deal. I mean he feels like he is losing a father. But I’m like, no, you’re gaining a different father and a brother."
This revelation comes as a resurfaced image of the two actors adds fuel to the claim that they could be related.
© Mark Davis/NBCThe Oscar winner had previously shared suspicions that his mother may have had a sexual encounter with Woody's hitman father, Charles, after she made a cryptic remark about knowing the late convict.
A picture of the long-time friends from 2019 reveals an uncanny resemblance, as they appear in the Apple TV+ comedy series Brother From Another Mother.
Speaking on the Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast, Matthew recalled the conversation in Greece, where his mother said she "knew" Woody's father. He said: "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 duo investigated their family history but remain reluctant to take a DNA test. Matthew explained: "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? 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."
Matthew acknowledges that the situation is more complicated for him, as he has believed his father to be his biological dad for 53 years.
He said: "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? 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."
While Woody's father Charles passed away 16 years ago from a heart attack in his prison cell, his mother, Diane Lou Oswald, is still alive. Charles was sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting Judge Wood Jr. in San Antonio, Texas, in 1979. Woody regularly visited him until his death at age 69.
Woody once spoke about his father, saying: "He is one of the most articulate, well-read charming people I've ever known. Still, I'm just now gauging whether he merits my loyalty or friendship. I look at him as someone who could be a friend more than someone who was a father."
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