Matthew McConaughey reveals why he turned down $15m role

"Now, money, fame, that's the definition of success. It seems to be whoever has more – more access, more money – you're the winner," McConaughey stated in the conversation. However, the actor noted that, for him, success and profit are not the same. "I think there's a difference between success and profit. Profit does pay you back," he explained.

McConaughey admitted that although he has nothing against money, he sees that many people focus solely on accumulating it. "I love money. I’m all for it. I see a lot of one way tickets that are ‘You can be successful and have more money but not be making a profit in your life,'" he said.

The actor also mentioned friends who, despite great wealth, are unhappy. "[They] were bewildered. Lost. Had no relationships. They didn't have purpose. They just chased the dollar," he added.

McConaughey not only declares that money isn't the most important thing, but he proves it when he turned down a role in the 2008 film Magnum, P.I. for $15 million. Shortly afterward, he went for a role in Dallas Buyers Club, for which he received an Oscar and a much smaller paycheck of $200,000.

In private life, Matthew McConaughey is the husband of model Camila Alves, with whom he has three children: sons Levi (15 years old) and Livingston (11 years old), and daughter Vida (14 years old). The couple, who married in 2012, moved from Malibu to Texas over a decade ago.

"We were living a happy life in Malibu," Alves recalls in an interview with "Southern Living." "We had a beautiful house that we’d built together and put a lot of love and care into. We were raising our kids there. I was growing everything in the yard. I had bees making honey."

The family decided to move to Texas after a sudden trip to Austin due to a family situation. Alves noticed that her husband felt more at ease there. She noticed "a peaceful but confident, energetic look," she recounts. She then asked him, "You want to move here, don’t you?" He replied, "Yep."