(CNN) — Woody Harrelson confirmed Matthew McConaughey’s claims that they could be brothers, noting that “there is some truth to that thought” during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“We want to go and (take a DNA test). It’s a much bigger issue for him than it is for me,” Harrelson said. “I mean…he feels like he’s losing a father. But I tell him no, that he is gaining a different father and brother.
Like McConaughey, Harrelson recalled a conversation with “Ma Mac, Matthew’s mother,” when she told them that she “knew…” Harrelson’s father.
“It was crazy. We were in Greece watching Team USA win the World Cup and I mentioned something about regret,” Harrelson said. “And I said, ‘You know, it’s weird that my dad has no regrets.’ And I’ve known Ma Mac for a long time, and she said, ‘I met… your father.’ But it was the ellipse that sounded a bit worrying or interesting.”
His pause, Harrelson added, was “full of innuendo.” Colbert joked that it might even have been a “significant break.”
Last week, McConaughey said on the “Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa” podcast that Harrelson’s father was on leave at the same time his own parents were divorcing a second time, and that his mother and Harrelson’s father could have known in West Texas.
Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey have been friends for years and memorably starred in the first season of “True Detective” together.
Similarly, Harrelson told Colbert: “The year of the birth of [Matthew]Nine months earlier, she was on a sabbatical from her relationship with her alleged father, Jim.”
The “True Detective” stars are about to appear in the comedy series “Brother From Another Mother” for Apple TV+, a fictionalized portrayal of their own decades-long friendship, which began after they met in 1997 while working on “ EDtv” by Ron Howard.
Harrelson will also star in the HBO series “White House Plumbers” opposite Justin Theroux, who told Entertainment Tonight he wouldn’t be surprised if McConaughey and Harrelson turned out to be half-brothers. (CNN and HBO share parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)
“I can’t tell if it’s just, like, his kind of slow Texan and southern accent or I think Texas is listed somewhere,” Theroux said. “It’s just a mindset. They’re both wonderfully relaxed all the time.”
CNN’s Alli Rosenbloom contributed to this report.
