Matthew McConaughey Reveals the Magical Moment He Knew Camila Alves Was the One

Updated on 10/12/2016 at 6:05 PM

Camila Alves and Matthew McConaughey wed back in June 2012, and throughout their time together, they've given us plenty of adorable moments to swoon over. While the couple tends to keep their relationship fairly private, in June, Matthew sat down with Jess Cagle for People magazine's The Jess Cagle Interview series and gushed over his beautiful wife, saying the reasons he fell for the Brazilian beauty were her sense of "self-respect" and "her relationship with family." In honor of their four years of marriage, read through the sweetest things Camila and Matthew have said about each other.

Camila on Matthew

On her wedding to Matthew: "It was the most memorable day of my life."
On what she loves most about Matthew: "Matthew has a lot of great things . . . but his sense of humor and his honesty."

Matthew on Camila

On how he knew Camila was the one: "I believe two things: it's got to be the right person, but it's got to be the right time. I could have met her 15 years ago and it wouldn't have been . . . I was not looking. I was sleeping well, I was spiritually sound, good with hanging with me, but we met and the self-respect she had for herself, the way I understood her and her relationship with family, her own family, the way she respected me, but never took anything for granted, the way she would not put on any airs . . . There was none of that. We went out on our first date three nights later, and I knew then that the next night after that I wanted to go out on another date, and I've been wanting to go out on a date with her for the last nine years not with anybody else."
On proposing to Camila: "I remember hitting the knee, looking into her eyes, and . . . I remember her face. I remember this smile coming up from her feet. I remember her having to catch her breath. And she didn't say yes right away. And then the whole family was going, 'Jeezus, she's gonna say no.'"

On getting married to Camila: "I had to get to the point where I saw it as more than just the thing to do. I wanted to really want to. You know, I didn't want it to be a destination; the fun is that we're on the adventure together. And look, some of it had to do with her putting it on me. It took her going, 'C'mon, Big Boy, Mr. Easygoing-We'll-Get-to-It-When-We-Get-to-It. Either sh*t or get off the pot.'"
On the night he fell in love with Camila: "I was very happily single and healthily single. I was not looking, but out of the corner of my eye, this sort of aqua-green figure went floating across the frame about 20 feet in front of me. My eye went up and I remember what came out of my mouth. I didn't say, 'Who is that?' I went, 'What is that?' As I was trying to get that's attention across the room, I went in my head, 'This is not the kind of woman you call over across the room, McConaughey. Get your ass out of your chair and go get her.' Which I did."