it would overpower everything,” says McConaughey speaking about his retardation for the first time with PEOPLE.
“There were definitely some close calls early on in my career. When I did EdTV and Newton Boys back to back,
people were like ‘What kind of movies is this guy choosing? He must be retarded.’ But my publicists worked
overtime to dampen that chatter – they had me wearing glasses and carrying books around all the time."
Explaining the cover-up McConaughey notes, "I mean, the last thing I would want is to get pigeon-holed as
the retarded actor. Look at my boy Burkey (Chris Burke of Life Goes On). That guy is S. O. L.”
Now, after years of trying to keep his personal life private, the Texas-bred, McConaughey, 38, is
publicly revealing his disability. “The crazy thing about all this is everybody is really cool about it.
I mean to be honest, the most common reaction I get is ‘I knew it! I always thought you were retarded. Yeah,
now it all makes sense’."
"The thing is, I’m not ashamed – that’s the one thing I want to say," he explains of his decision to come
out. "If anything, it takes a big weight off me. I mean, from now on when people hear that I was leading
a conga line through a Circle K at 3am in nothing but a Speedo and suspenders, then they’ll just be like
‘Oh that’s just McConaughey up to his old ‘tard tricks'."
For the full Q&A with Matthew McConaghey, pick up PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
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