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Matthew McConaughey does not approve of participation prizes.
During a recent appearance on the “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” podcast, the 56-year-old actor spoke about his dislike for participation medals and how chasing perfection drives him.
“I’m not into extra credit. I don’t like 4.2 GPAs,” he said. “That tells me, like, what happened? Then we’re not giving the right tests. If 4.0 was the pinnacle, that means not many people should be getting it, if anybody.”
“So now we’re getting 4.2s, 4.4s,” he added. “That tells me we’ve overleveraged the original task, or we’ve added amnesty or too many places to not have the real competence and merit at the task that you’re supposed to get, because, especially I think in the West, because we want everyone to feel really great. Participation trophies. 4.2 GPA.”
McConaughey isn’t a fan of participation trophies. (PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
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He explained that while people might feel better when receiving these things, when getting the 4.2 GPA they are “getting a 3.8 education,” because the extra credit they got is “balanced with the debit of the actual … what we learn from it.”
When it comes to chasing perfection and failing, McConaughey admitted he thinks it is important to grow, saying that going into a situation knowing perfection is impossible but still having faith is crucial, adding “I feel like it keeps me in the chase. Keeps me in the race.”
When speaking with Fox News Digital in September 2025, McConaughey shared why his motto, “Just Keep Livin,” is how he approaches his life in order to “do my best to take care of the family.”
McConaughey previously spoke to Fox News Digital about his motto, “Just keep livin’.” (Lou Rocco/Disney General Entertainment Content)
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McConaughey has been married to Brazilian model, Camila Alves, since 2012, and they share three children together: Levi, 17, Vida, 16, and Livingston, 13.
“That’s something that’s non-negotiable in my life,” McConaughey said. “That’s one of those fires that’s going to … I started when I met Camilla 19 years ago, and we’ve continued as we have kids and when the kids get out of the house and Camilla and I continue on, those are fires that I want to keep putting fuel on. I want to keep building those.
“Those are non-negotiable. Those are always on my proverbial desk in my life.”
When discussing the start of his family, McConaughey told “This Past Weekend with Theo Von,” that “I always knew I wanted to be a father,” and knew Alves was the one he wanted to start a family with, but marriage was not a top priority.
McConaughey and his wife share three children together. (Rick Kern/Getty Images)
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He later discussed his mom’s reaction when he told her he and Alves were pregnant with their first child before getting married, saying the line went silent when he told her over the phone.
“Crickets,” he recalled. “Next thing you hear is, ‘No, no, no, no, no, Matthew! This is out of order! I didn’t raise you to do this. No, Matthew, you’re supposed to be married!’ And went on and on and on in a five-minute monologue and then hung up.”
He then said his mother called back 10 minutes later with an apology, and congratulated them.
McConaughey said last year that his mother initially had a negative reaction when learning Alves was expecting their first child. (Gary Miller)
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