Los Angeles, Aug 23 (IANS): Actor Matthew McConaughey’s wife, Camila Alves has opened up on the difficulties of the relationship she had with her mother-in-law, Mary Kathlene 'Kay' McCabe, when they first met.

The Brazilian model, (41), detailed her rocky beginnings with Kay, who the family have nicknamed 'Ma Mac', on a new episode of Southern Living's Biscuits & Jam podcast.

Recalling the beginning of their meeting, Alves said: “She did all these things when I first came into the picture, right? She was really testing me. I mean, really testing me.”

“She would call me by all of Matthew's ex-girlfriends' names, she would start speaking Spanish with me in a very broken way, kind of putting (me) down a bit. I mean, all kinds of stuff.”

It took Camila standing up for herself during a work trip for Kay to finally accept the model as part of the family.

Recalling her early meeting with the ‘Interstellar’ actor, Alves said: "A lotta people have this, well, I don't think people actually had this image of Matthew anymore because, just the kind of work and things he's been doing, but when we first start dating, it was this image of Matthew of getting high, laid back, no shirt, whatever."

To her surprise, things were bizzarely against her expectations "Watching him, I was like, 'The guy doesn't even smoke. What is this vision coming from?'

"He's actually the opposite, and he's like his mom," she explained. "She's very organized, very minimalistic, very on time, very prepared, and he gets a lot of those traits from her."

According to The Mirror, after booking a modelling job in Istanbul, Camila took her mother-in-law with her using the extra first-class ticket and a free hotel stay she received.

It was a difficult plane ride, with Camila explaining: "The whole way there, the whole plane ride to Istanbul, she was telling me all these stories and putting all these things in my head."

"When we landed, I was like, 'Okay, all right. Let me buckle up. Let me get ready for this situation'," she continued. "About day three, I was taking her to her room, and she got into this whole other thing that it's not my place to share, and she starts crying, and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh!' You know, 'Ma Mac!' and feeling so sorry. And as I put her to bed, I look at her and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh. She's full of s**t'."