Who is Woody Harrelson’s father amid rumours that Matthew McConaughey could be related?

After almost a decade your favourite ‘True Detectives’ Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are joining forces once again as they team up for a new Apple TV+ series called ‘Brother From Another Mother’.

The Hollywood stars have been close friends for a number of years and first starred alongside one another in 2014 for the debut series of HBO’s True Detectives, however their new series may be more ‘true’ than originally thought.

Despite playing fictional versions of themselves in the new Apple TV+ show, Matthew and Woody have seemingly drawn inspiration from their previous sleuth roles as they have discovered that they actually may be related. 

Yes - the Hollywood bromance that sees the actor’s respective kids call the other one ‘Uncle Woody’ and ‘Uncle Matthew’ as well as their uncanny resemblance in appearance, may actually be a true bromance.

The mystery comes after Matthew McConaughey revealed on Kelly Ripa’s podcast ‘Let’s Talk Off Camera’ that his mother reportedly ‘knew’ Woody’s father, convicted felon Charles Harrelson.

He said: “Where I start and where he ends, and where he starts and I end, has always been a murky line and that’s part of our bromance right?

“In Greece a few years ago we’re sitting around talking about how close we are and our families, and my Mom is there and she says, ‘Woody I knew your Dad.’ Everyone was aware of the ellipses that my mom left after ‘knew’. It was a loaded K-N-E-W.”

Following the discussion, Woody and Matthew took a look at their family histories and landed on the answer that Woody’s father Charles may have been in west Texas the same time as Matthew’s mom Mary McCabe for an intimate ‘know’ moment.

While the sceptic in me thinks, ‘is this a clever PR spin to raise awareness for the TV series which is yet to receive a release date’, the fairy-tale loving half hopes this could be a somewhat happy ending for the long-time Hollywood friends. 

As the pair decide whether or not to do a DNA test to cement the possibility of being half-brothers ‘from another mother’, PeopleWorld takes a look at Woody’s father Charles Harrelson.

Born in Lovelady, Texas in 1937, Charles Voyde Harrelson was a hitman and organised crime figure who was convicted of killing a federal judge as well as armed robbery and another murder.

Before he was sentenced, Charles was married to four different ladies and welcomed three sons (Woody, Brett and Jordan) with his second wife Diane Lou Oswald as he worked as a professional gambler and encyclopaedia salesman.

Charles was convicted of armed robbery in 1960, four years ahead of his divorce from Diane and eight years before Woody cited his father disappeared from the family home.

Woody revealed he visited his father often in prison but had mixed feelings after Charles admitted to being involved in dozens of murders from the early 1960s including that of a Alan Harry Berg in 1968 and a hire-for-killing job the same year where Charles was paid the equivalent of $16,000 (in 2020) for the murder of Sam Degelia.

Although Charles ultimately only ended up serving five years in prison, being released ‘for good behaviour’, for the latter murder, he was subsequently sentenced to two life terms after assassinating Judge John Wood Jr as a hitman - Judge John Wood’s death was the first federal judge to be assassinated in the 20th century.

Charles tried to escape the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary with two other inmates in 1995 by making a rope but the trio were forced to surrender and Charles was subsequently moved to a maximum security facility in Colorado where he later died from a heart attack.

On top of Charles’ life of crime, he faced allegations for being involved in the assassination of John F Kennedy.