During a recording of Amanda de Cadenet’s podcast The Conversation: About the Men, which was released on 19 September 2022, Texas-born actor Matthew McConaughey opened up about a disturbing incident that took place during his youth.

Recalling his first sexual encounter at age 15, McConaughey told De Cadenet, “I’m not gonna be afraid of relationships because my first experience was blackmail.” The Dallas Buyers Club actor went on to elaborate, emphasising how he refused to let the incident impact his future romantic relationships as a teenager.

“I was very clear, again, that was not right, that was not cool, that was not the way it is. After that, I got to have some healthy sexual relations and have girls that I liked and liked me, and we slowly got intimate and it was beautiful and clumsy, and all those things, but it wasn’t ugly like that was.”

According to UNILAD, McConaughey also revealed in his 2020 memoir Greenlights how, at 18 years old, he was molested by an older man in the back of a van while unconscious. In his autobiography, he also stressed his desire to move past those traumatic experiences, in search of healthy and consensual relationships.

The actor is currently married to Brazilian model and designer Camila Alves. They’ve had three children since their union in 2012. McConaughey has also highlighted the impact his past has had on educating his three young children.

Speaking at length on the podcast about consent, he recollected his father’s advice: “He said, ‘Son, as a male in the situation,’—speaking to me about a heterosexual relationship—‘if you ever feel the girl, the female, hesitate, stop. You may even feel them hesitate, and then after you stop, they may go, ‘Oh, no, come on’. Don’t. Wait till next time’.”

McConaughey has also recently hinted at a future in politics. Speaking to attendees at the San Francisco Dreamforce conference on 20 September, the actor shared his thoughts on the state of American politics.

In regards to the 2024 presidential election, he said, “Yeah I’ll consider it in the future. I’d be arrogant not to, absolutely I would consider it. If I got into any form of politics, I’d be remiss not to also go in as an artist and a storyteller; help put a narrative together. You’re the CEO of a state and a nation—a lot of compartmentalisation and choices to be made. They scare me but I’m not afraid of ’em,” as reported by SFGATE.

On 25 August, Marvin Magallanes, 31, was sentenced to two life terms in prison for the murders of Sabah Alsaad, 49, Onosai Tavita, 52, and Danny Pham, 27.

According to The Independent, the California native killed two homeless men—Alsaad and Tavita—in 2016 and 2017 respectively, and then proceeded to strangle his cellmate Pham in their joint prison cell. Both of the homeless men had been sleeping rough when Magallanes killed them. Meanwhile, Pham had only been sharing a cell with Magallanes for a few weeks before he was murdered.

Magallanes allegedly believed that media personality and businesswoman Kylie Jenner was communicating with him and ordering him to commit the aforementioned crimes. He went as far as to claim that the reality TV star had “told him to do it” or otherwise someone was going to “steal his life.”

During the recent trial, one prison guard testified that the inmate did indeed suffer with “split personality” disorder. Family members further emphasised this, stating that Magallanes had displayed erratic behaviour following a painful breakup in his youth.

Ultimately, however, Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger declined Magallanes attorney’s “not guilty by reason of insanity” plea and sentenced the offender to two terms of life in prison without parole for the killings of the homeless men and a further 15 years to life for murdering Pham.

This was not Magallanes first brush with Jenner either. In June 2016, Magallanes attempted to crash his car through the socialite’s security gates at her home in Calabasas, California. At the time, he accepted a plea deal and was only required to serve ten days in LA County Jail followed by a year of probation, as reported by the Daily Mail.

It appears that the convict has been convinced that he has been in a romantic relationship with Jenner since before 2016—fuelling an obsessive and paranoid fascination with the celebrity.

During the 2022 criminal trial, Pham’s sister spoke to the court about the impact of Magallanes’ actions. She said, “Every day is a struggle and constant reminder of my brother’s absence. As I sat in court and listened to the evidence shown against Marvin Magallanes, I cannot believe how he did not show any sign of remorse.”