Sometimes it is too easy to look at the life of a celebrity and assume that they have always had a “perfect” life. We think they have never struggled or faced challenges that other children have. This is not the case, and it seldom is the case. Underneath all the glitz and glamor of Hollywood life, celebrities are just normal people and they face struggles like the rest of the world. They also can have troubled and traumatic childhoods that can shape who they become in the future.
According to Today, Matthew McConaughey grew up in South Texas to parents who were extremely sick. He even said that most people would consider what his parents did “abuse,” but he doesn’t see it that way. While he doesn’t see his parents' actions as abusive, it has definitely shaped how he disciplines his children.
When Matthew was asked about his childhood and if he thought it was abuse, he said that in the moment he was definitely scared, but it never made him question the love his parents had for him. He shared most of his details in his new memoir, Greenlights, that is full of diary entries from the last 36 years. Matthew said that the stories he tells are “bloody and ugly and sometimes violent.” He said that he shares them because that was when their love was challenged, but it was never broken.
He said that he would never judge how his parents raised him, because every time he “got the belt,” he earned it. However, he does not raise his children the way he was raised. He said that how he chooses to raise his children is with a lot more dialogue than he ever had as a child. When something happens, he opens the room up for conversation and debate. He said even his mother has told him that they all talk too much.
Matthew may be proof that people can change, and they can break a pattern of parental mistakes. It is so easy for someone to parent the way they were parented, because they don’t know anything else and believe that “they turned out fine.” However, sometimes, we need to change the cycle and realize that there are better ways of addressing things and disciplining children. It seems like Matthew has that figured out and while he has made it very clear that he loves his parents, he wants to raise his children differently than how he was raised.
Source: Today