Matthew McConaughey looked back on a painful period from his teen years in a new edition of his Lyrics of Livin’ newsletter.
The 56-year-old actor — who stars opposite Bradley Cooper in a new Super Bowl ad — dished on his struggle with acne, which was exacerbated when his mother, Mary Kathleen ‘Kay’ McConaughey, encouraged him to use a skincare product she was selling.
‘A fan of self-regard and looking my best, I listened to her and started applying Oil of Mink to my face each night before bed. The result?… More pimples,’ McConaughey revealed.
The product was touted as a cure for troubled skin, but had the opposite effect on an adolescent McConaughey.
When he raised concern about his skin’s reaction to the substance, Kay’s boss — a woman named Elaine — claimed, ‘It’s bringing out all the impurities,’ and she advised, ‘Just keep applying the Oil of Mink each night, and eventually it’ll pull all the impurities out, and then you’ll have a clear, glowing complexion for the rest of your life.’
But after seeing a dermatologist, the How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days star discovered that he had been too young to use the oil.
Matthew McConaughey looked back on a painful period from his teen years in a new edition of his Lyrics of Livin’ newsletter; pictured in October 2025
The 56-year-old actor dished on his struggle with acne, which was exacerbated when his mother, Mary Kathleen ‘Kay’ McConaughey, encouraged him to use a skincare product she was selling
‘Three weeks in, my entire cheeks were swollen, red pustules. Huge whiteheads. Blistering geysers of pus. I looked like a different person,’ he recalled.
According to McConaughey’s recollection, the skincare professional told him: ‘This is for people that are at least over 40 years old.
‘Definitely not for a teenager going through adolescence when your skin is secreting more oil. This product has completely blocked your pores.’
His doctor added, ‘You have severe nodular acne. You are 10 days away from having ice-pick scars in your cheeks for the rest of your life.’
He was prescribed Accutane, which caused peeling, cracking, dry skin, as well as hair loss, tight joints, and headaches.
The star’s father, James Donald McConaughey, sought to take legal action against Oil of Mink for its lack of a warning label.
He brought in his lawyer, who recorded his teen son answering questions about how the ordeal affected his confidence and how he interacted with girls.
After two years on the retinoid medication, the future Hollywood heartthrob had a clear complexion.
When he raised concern about his skin’s reaction to the substance, Kay’s boss claimed, ‘It’s bringing out all the impurities,’ and advised, ‘Just keep applying the Oil of Mink’; McConaughey pictured with his mom in September 2025
The star’s father James Donald McConaughey sought to take legal action against Oil of Mink for its lack of a warning label; Matthew’s dad pictured in his college yearbook in 1952
But when it was time to give his deposition for the lawsuit, his good looks betrayed him.
McConaughey’s high school ‘Most Handsome’ superlative did not sit well with the defense attorney, and the case was dismissed.
‘We were done. Case dropped. My dad was inconsolable. He went on about it for weeks,’ the Poems & Prayers author remembered.
He recounted his dad, who died in 1992 at age 62, saying, ‘Goddamn you, boy! Here I am, I got a chance to make $35 to 50 thousand dollars on a lawsuit that we could’ve won.
‘And you gotta go off and win Most Handsome! You screwed up the whole lawsuit, son!’
McConaughey has previously looked back on his dad’s legacy with great admiration.
In his 2020 book Greenlights, he described his late dad as ‘the abominable snowman, the immovable force, a bear of a man, with the immune system of a Viking and the strength of a bull.’
McConaughey added that he used to believe ‘nobody or no thing could kill’ his father… ‘except Mom.’
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