AceShowbiz - Matthew McConaughey was "hurt" by his mother's reaction to his fame, insisting she wasn't the anchor he needed as his career took off.

The actor, who lost his father in 1992, recalls him mum, Mary Kathlene McCabe, became a different person when her son was starting to get noticed in Hollywood.

"I needed her as a mother at that time," he tells BBC Radio 5 Live's Headliners podcast. "I was unbalanced, looking for anchors and I needed my mother to be one of those anchors... I needed a voice of reason."

"My dad had already moved on from this life and when I called my mom for that all of a sudden I didn't find my mom on the other end of the phone; I found a superfan. I found someone who really loved my fame and wanted it for herself as well in certain ways and that hurt."

"I had a couple of years there, where I very seldom talked to her. I'd give her the Sunday call and I'd be very dry, because I didn't want to give her any details... If I shared stuff with her she'd use it and it'd show up in a newspaper the next day."

"I was like, 'No mum, that's for you and me...' She didn't get that for a while."

Last month (Oct20), the Oscar winner revealed he was dumbfounded when private matters became tabloid gossip and as he investigated, he quickly realised his mother was behind the leaks.

"I would have conversations and then all of a sudden... what we’d talk about would end up in the paper three days later," he said during an appearance on "The Howard Stern Show". "I was like, 'Mum, that was between us!' "

He admitted the final straw came when he saw his mum giving a TV camera crew a tour of his childhood home.

"(She said), 'I didn't think you'd find out!'"

Matthew is no longer estranged from his proud mum and told Stern, "It wasn't her fault. I just had to make some boundaries. It was tough for eight years, but we went through it and we’re on the other side of it. It’s good."