Just when Matthew McConaughey began to become a worldwide name, he made a radical decision: he fled Hollywood to take refuge in Ilo, a port city in southern Peru. The actor, who was 26 years old, had just finished filming “A Time to Kill”, the adaptation of the novel by John Grisham released in 1996 and starring Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson.

In a recent interview for the “No Magic Pill” podcast with host Blake Mycoskie, McConaughey explained the reasons for his sudden runaway.

“I needed to put my feet on the ground,” he confessed to the presenter.

"So I disconnected. Done! I went to Peru. I needed to find myself, to check validity. Now that I'd become famous, with "All this adulation about this and that and the other. I was trying to figure out what part of it was real and what part of it was just a lie." Matthew McConaughey

The name that McConaughey adopted

As part of his self-discovery process, McConaughey adopted the name “Mateo”, the Spanish form of his name. For 22 days he lived or isolated in Ilo, a port city in southern Peru, in conditions that he himself described as complete isolation, without electricity.

The actor admitted that the first half of his exile was “strange”. “But the last 10 days were great,” he added. “I’d been long enough in the place to think: ‘I could live like this. This could be my life.'”

As it is known, McConaughey died return to Hollywood, but with a renewed mentality,thanks to contact with people who had no idea that he was a famous actor, according to what he described.

Already in 1996, the interpreter had talked about his Peruvian adventure with The New York Times, calling it “the best decision”in the world.”