Matthew McConaughey's wife Camila says his mom would call her his exes' names and speak in 'broken' Spanish to her

Matthew McConaughey's wife Camila has opened up about the 'tricky' relationship she's had with the actor's mom over the years, including being called by the wrong name on multiple occasions.

McConaughey and Camila tied the knot in June 2012, six years after they first met at a bar in Los Angeles.

At first it was the actor who had to do the convincing as Camila rejected him on numerous occasions, but when they finally got together it was Camila who had to step up and prove to McConaughey's mom, Mary Kathleen McCabe, that she was worthy.

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During a recent appearance on Southern Living’s Biscuits & Jam podcast, Camila recalled how McCabe - nicknamed 'Ma Mac' - would do 'all these things' when she first came into the picture.

“She would call me by all of Matthew’s ex-girlfriends’ names, she would start speaking Spanish with me in a very broken way, kind of putting down a bit," Camila, who is Brazilian, said. "I mean, all kinds of stuff.”

Looking back, Camila explained McCabe was 'testing' her, adding: "I mean, really testing me."

Camila wasn't going anywhere, though, and after she secured a modelling job in Istanbul, for which she had a spare first class ticket and a free stay at a nice hotel, she invited McCabe to come along with her.

McCabe agreed, but Camila recalled: "The whole way there, the whole plane ride to Istanbul, she was telling me all these stories and putting all these things in my head."

Before long, Camila decided she wasn't going to take it any more.

"Enough [of] that, when we landed, I was like, 'Okay, all right. Let me buckle up. Let me get ready for this situation'," she recalled.

"About day three, I was taking her to her room, and she got into this whole other thing that it's not my place to share, and she starts crying... I'm like, 'Oh my gosh!' You know, 'Ma Mac!' and feeling so sorry. And as I put her to bed, I look at her and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh. She's full of s**t.'"

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Camila decided it was time to stand up for herself, saying: "I just [flipped] it on her and brought my spicy Brazilian, Latin side, and I let her have it. So I went back at her, and we had it back and forth, back and forth.

"She just looked at me and she was like, 'Okay. Now you're in.'"

“All she wanted was for me to fight back,” Camila explained.

Since then, Camila said, the pair have had the 'most amazing relationship'.

"I have so much respect for her," she added. "She has so much respect for me. I mean, it can get tricky sometimes, you know? But we always end with a good laugh and a joke.”

Now more than a decade into their marriage, McConaughey and Camila share three children together; Levi, 15, Vida, 13, and 10-year-old Livingston.