Matthew McConaughey Actually Came in Second for an Award He Thought He Had Won (Video)

The Oscar winner tells Jimmy Fallon how his mom helped him lie and cheat to get ahead in life

Matthew McConaughey has a very crowded trophy case, especially after cleaning up for his 2013 performance in “Dallas Buyers Club.” But one award wasn’t even his to accept.

At the age of 8, McConaughey was told by his mother that he had won the Little Mr. Texas competition. Jimmy Fallon held up a photo of a young McConaughey dressed as a cowboy at the event. Upon further review of his trophy though, it would appear he actually came in second place.

“I’ve been telling people, ‘I’m Little Mr. Texas.’ My mother has told me I’m Little Mr. Texas, there’s proof,” McConaughey said, pointing at the picture.

“Six years ago, at 39 years old, I say, ‘well let me just zoom in.’ I look at the trophy and it says, ‘Runner up,’” McConaughey said.

The actor confronted his mother to ask why she’d always lied to him about him winning the pageant.

“She was like, ‘no the kid who won it, they had a lot more money than us and he bought like a three-piece suit. We call that cheating. You were Little Mr. Texas,’” McConaughey said.

His mother’s dishonesty didn’t end there. She also helped her now famous son win an poetry writing contest by plagiarizing a famous work. After several attempts at trying to write his own poem, McConaughey’s mom suggested he simply copy one out of a book and turn it in as his own.

“So I wrote it, and I won,” McConaughey said.

McConaughey currently stars in Christopher Nolan‘s space thriller “Interstellar,” in theaters now.

Watch the video from “The Tonight Show” above.

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