Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves live out their dream scenario in the former's home state of Texas, where they've been settled since 2014.
The actor, 54, and his model wife, 41, originally lived in Malibu, California with their three children after tying the knot in 2012, but things changed soon after.
In a new joint interview with Southern Living, Matthew and Camila revealed the exact scenario that inspired them to move to the Lone Star State nearly a decade ago.
"We were living a happy life in Malibu," the Brazilian model and entrepreneur said. "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."
Matthew and Camila are the proud parents of teenagers Levi, 15, and Vida, 14, and their youngest is pre-teen Livingston, 11. Of the three, Levi is the most active on social media, having created his account soon after his 15th birthday last July.
However, a "family crisis" occurred soon after, which forced the McConaugheys to move to Austin for several weeks while the Oscar-winning actor supported his mother and two brothers.
In that time, Camila noticed that her husband had a different air about him in his home state, remarking that he felt noticeably more content in Texas. "The gravity is very different in Texas," she said.
They opened up about the very moment they made the call to move down there, which came one night when they were driving back from a visit with Matthew's mom Mary and Camila saw his "peaceful but confident, energetic look" as he took in the countryside before him.
When they were stopped at a red light, she recalls asking him: "You want to move here, don't you?" and after a few seconds of pause, he simply responded: "Yep."
© Getty ImagesThey both broke down laughing after remembering that she replied with a swear, and once they started driving again, Camila urged: "Let's do it."
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While the Dallas Buyers Club star acknowledged that the move was much harder for Camila than it was for him, given that she'd spent most of her adult life in either New York or Los Angeles, she found herself feeling much closer to her home of Brazil than ever before.
© Instagram"We grew up saying 'Yes, ma'am' and 'No, sir' or – as I should say – 'Yes, ma'am' and 'Yes, sir,'" she added, saying that it helped her remember "how I was raised."
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The pair spoke about finding new rituals and traditions in Texas, which involved going to church on Sundays and having the kids get more involved in sports than ever before.
© Getty Images"Ritual came back," Matthew emphasized. "Whether that was Sunday church, sports, dinner together as a family every night, or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen, sitting at the island pouring drinks and nibbling while retelling them all in different ways than we told them before."
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