53-year-old Dallas Buyers Club star McConaughey said his mother had opened the door to the possibility when she admitted to knowing Harrelson’s father well, perhaps hinting that the pair could have had intimate relations at some point on the timeline.
McConaughey appeared on Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast and told how his dear old mom had dropped the potential bombshell while his and Harrelson’s families were on holiday in Greece together.
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The Interstellar actor said that the topic of discussion one day turned to the fact that he and Harrelson often get mistaken for one another in photographs.
“In Greece a few years ago, we’re sitting around talking about how close we are and our families,” McConaughey said.
“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.”
After that revelation, McConaughey decided to do a little digging to ascertain the truth about his family history. As it turns out, the 53-year-old discovered that while his parents were going through their second divorce, Harrelson’s father was on furlough.
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For his part, 63-year-old Harrelson suggested that the pair get DNA tests done, though McConaughey remains unconvinced.
“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?” McConaughey said.
“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.”
Harrelson’s father was handed a 15 year prison sentence in 1973 for the murder of a grain dealer – something Harrelson found out via radio broadcast.
The Hunger Games star told The Guardian: “I was in the car waiting for a lady who was picking me up from school, helping my mum, and anyway I was listening to the radio and it was talking about Charles V Harrelson and his trial for murder and blah blah blah blah and I’m sitting there thinking there can’t be another Charles V Harrelson. I mean, that’s my dad!”
