The real reason Matthew McConaughey left Hollywood and moved to Austin, Texas

Matthew McConaughey went into detail about his decision to move his family from Los Angeles to his native Texas on Thursday's edition of TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.

The Oscar-winning actor, 54, was asked by Hoda Kotb, 60, why he decided to step back despite working in an industry based in Southern California.

“This has always been my home, I mean, there are several reasons for that,” McConaughey said on the morning show, held on location in Austin, Texas. “I mean, I have a great relationship with time here – that is, 60 seconds feels like a minute, a mile feels like a mile.”

McConaughey – father of three with his wife Camila Alves, 41, Levi, 15, Vida, 14, and Livingston, 11 – added: “I like living in a place and I want a home to be a place where I have a home.” good relationship with time.'

The Dallas Buyers Club star said his family is from Texas, including his mother, 92, and brothers who live in Houston and Midland.

Matthew McConaughey, 54, went into detail about his decision to move his family from Los Angeles to his native Texas on Thursday's edition of TODAY with Hoda & Jenna

McConaughey appeared on the morning show locally in Austin, Texas

“Our family unit is here – we have resources and a backbone of security here,” The Lincoln Lawyer actor added.

McConaughey said he had always planned to return home while raising his family with Alves, a Brazilian model and designer.

The Lone Star State native and his spouse tied the knot at their Austin, Texas, home on June 9, 2012, and moved back there (from Malibu, California) two years later.

“I wanted them to have what I grew up with,” McConaughey said. “There’s a lot of common sense in it, it’s not talked about, but we understand it here.”

He praised Austin as a “very creative city in a state that is very structured” and a city where people are accepted for who they are.

“The rule in Austin is 'Be you' – that's always been the rule in this city – and we should make sure that stays the rule – just 'Be you,'” he said.

McConaughey, born in Uvalde, Texas and raised in Longview, Texas, attended college at the University of Texas at Austin before entering show business. He remains an ardent fan of the school's football team, the Texas Longhorns, and often appears on the sidelines at games.

His appearance came a few days after he took to social media to condemn the behavior of a section of Longhorns fans after they threw bottles on the field after their loss to the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday to protest a call directed against the home team.

He said on the NBC show: “I mean, I have a great relationship with time here – that is, 60 seconds feels like a minute, a mile feels like a mile.”

The Oscar-winning actor and his family moved from Malibu, California to Austin, Texas in 2014

He said of Texas: “There's a lot of common sense in it, it's not talked about, but we understand it here.”

“Let’s take the on-field bottle bomb mistake we had more seriously,” McConaughey said. “Not cool. Bogey move.'

“Yeah, that call was bullshit, but we're better than that.” Longhorn Nation knows better than anyone how to perform, show up and still stay in class. So let’s clean up this mess in the future and put it behind us forever.”

The couple spoke to the publication Southern Living last March about their marriage and family life, detailing their decision to move.

“We lived a happy life in Malibu,” Alves said. “We had a beautiful house that we built together and put a lot of love and care into.” We raised our children there. I grew everything in the garden. I had bees that made honey.'

Alves said an emergency initially prompted the family to go to Austin to help McConaughey's mother, Kay McConaughey, and his brothers.

During this time, she noticed that his mood was much brighter in his native Texas than in California.

Alves said that while driving, she noticed that the “True Detective” actor looked “peaceful but confident and energetic.” She asked him, “You want to move here, don’t you?” to which he said, “Yes.”

Alves said she feels comfortable in Texas because the culture there reflects certain aspects of her childhood in Brazil.

McConaughey attended college at the University of Texas at Austin and remains an avid fan of the school's football team, the Texas Longhorns, often appearing on the sidelines during games. Pictured on Saturday

On Monday, he took to social media to condemn the behavior of some Longhorns fans after they threw bottles at the field after their loss to the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday to protest a call directed at the home team

McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves, 41, were pictured with their three children Levi, 16, Vida, 14, and Livingston, 11, at an event for his nonprofit at ACL Live in Austin, Texas, on April 25

“We grew up saying, ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘No, sir,’ or, as I should say, ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘Yes, sir,’” Alves said. “It takes me back to the time I grew up in.”

The Dazed and Confused alum explained in detail what made his homecoming a decade ago so special.

“The ritual came back, whether it was Sunday church, sports, having dinner with the family every night,” he said, “or staying up afterwards and telling stories in the kitchen, sitting on the island, pouring drinks and nibbling while you “told everything again” differently than we told them before.'