Woody Harrelson has responded to pal Matthew McConaughey’s claim that they could be biological brothers and has called for them to do a DNA test.
The actor, 61, addressed the idea during an appearance on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert alongside his White Plumbers co-star Justin Theroux on Tuesday night.
The EdTV star explained that he first considered McConaughey possibly being his sibling after a conversation with the Oscar winner’s mother Mary Kathlene McCabe in Greece many years ago.
He explained: “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… I mean, this is crazy.
“We were in Greece watching the US 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.’”
Harrelson said it was the pause, which Colbert quipped was “a pregnant pause”, that planted a seed as it was “filled with innuendo”.
The Texan star continued: “The year of [Matthew’s] birth, nine months before, she was on a sabbatical from her relationship with his supposed father, Jim.”
When McConaughey made the revelation recently, the actor explained his reluctance over having a DNA test.
However, Harrelson admitted he doesn’t have the same reservations – explaining what McConaughey would get in return if they were to be biological brothers.
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.”
Harrelson’s comments come after McConaughey made the claim last week during an appearance on Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast.
The Failure To Launch star said his mother’s comment prompted him to investigate his family history, and whether she might have had a fling with Harrelson’s father.
McConaughey added: “We went on to unpack what this ‘knew’ meant and did some math and found out that [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 actor then admitted that he’s hesitant to take a DNA test out of fear the man, who he believed is his father, isn’t. McConaughey’s dad James passed away in 1992.
Meanwhile, Harrelson’s father, a hitman called Charles, died in prison 2007. His mother is Diane Lou Oswald.
